D ΧΙ THE LIFE-HEALER IS COME R. MACKAY had prepared the Chinese commander for their coming. Liu Ming-chuan lost no time in meaningless formalities. He read their passports, thanked them for coming, issued orders giving Dr. Sinclair a free hand in dealing with the sick and wounded, and in half an hour saw him beginning his work. "I am glad you have come," said MacKay. “I was sure you would." The keen black eyes looked straight into Sinclair's blue ones. "I was sure you would," he repeated. "You want to do good to humanity. I never saw a time when it was more needed. God sent you here for this very time.' "I hope that may be true," replied Sinclair. "For the present we must get busy. Have many wounded been brought in?" "More than a hundred. But I believe that there are many more in the various forts or on the open hillsides, lying where they fell. There has been no system about collecting the wounded." "That will be for you to organize, sergeant—an ambulance corps." "Bedad, sir, an' if they'll give me the men I ask for I'll train them till they can pick up a wounded man before he falls." 66 That's what we want, sergeant. Meanwhile, Dr. MacKay, what accommodation can they give us? Just as we went into the governor's you spoke of a hospital. Have you succeeded in improvising one?" "That's where we are going now. You can see for yourself. Here we are." He turned into a narrow lane. As he did so the pungent odour of disinfectants reached their nostrils. Another sharp turn and he stopped at the door of a long, low, but well-built house of durable burned brick. They had approached it from the back. On the other side two long buildings extended from each end of the main structure, at right angles to it, with it forming three sides of a square and enclosing a large paved courtyard. The fourth side had been shut in by a high fence of interwoven bamboos. But this had been cleared away. Now the courtyard opened directly on a beautiful, swift-flowing stream, a branch of the Tamsui River. Mountains clothed with verdure from base to summit rose from the farther shore. A soft breeze blew up the river and, eddying in the courtyard, modified the intense heat. A clump of feathery bamboos nodded gracefully over the buildings. A On the earthen floor of the houses, on the cobblestones which paved the courtyard, on the ground outside, quicklime had been plentifully scattered. strong odour of carbolic told that other precautions had been taken. Sinclair passed through the building with long, swift strides, his eyes seeing everything. He paused when he reached the river bank and noted the means provided for the disposal of sewage. Then he turned to MacKay: "Had any provision been made for this before you arrived?" "None." "Had the Chinese done nothing to care for their wounded?" 66 Nothing." "Did their doctors help you to get this hospital in shape?' "No. They opposed me all they could." "MacKay, you're a marvel." "Do not praise me. You have not looked at the wounded yet. They are suffering. You must remember that I am not a qualified medical doctor. I am a preacher of the gospel. I know little of medicine, and almost nothing of surgery." "The more wonder that you have accomplished so much!" "It is my work. My Master not only healed the souls of men, but relieved the suffering of their bodies. To the best of my ability I try to do the same.' "You're right. That's what we're here for-to make life better for as many as we can. There are a lot here who need our help. Let us get busy." They stepped again into the main building and stood in the narrow passage between the rows of bare trestle boards which served as beds. Wounded men were lying there as close together as was possible and yet leave room for a doctor to step in beside them. There was a hum of conversation, but very little moaning, and rarely a cry of pain. The Chinese, so noisy in their times of sorrow or of joy, so clamorous in their excitement, are strangely silent in pain and bear suffering stoically. Dr. MacKay lifted his voice so that all could hear, speaking in Chinese. "Friends," he said, "the physician of whom I told |