485
Thereupon most of the elders left the Temple and I managed to induce most of the crowd to do the same. Some however refused to move and presently a man from outside rushed in and hurled a brick on the pavement of the Temple yard so that it broke in pieces. Then another came in and called on the bystanders to arrest my Chinese Interpreter for being a traitor to his country in endeavouring to assist the foreigners in obtaining possession of it. After a little time the people seemed to have become more quiet and I judged it expedient to try and get away from the village. Myself, the Sikh Police and the Chinese who were with me stepped out of the Temple into the street in a body and proceeded leisurely to leave the village. Thereupon a man in the crowd struck the Interpreter a violent blow with his fist on the back, and another seized him by the queue and endeavoured to drag him from my party.
This a Sikh Constable prevented whereupon a brick was thrown from the crowd which struck him on the head. Bricks were now showered upon us by the crowd from a pile that unfortunately lay in the street and nearly all of my party were struck, one Sikh receiving a severe blow over the eye. We continued to retire slowly and the next moment some of the crowd seized wooden articles among which I noticed a chair, a wooden bucket and a bamboo broom with which they attacked us. During this time the five Chinese soldiers who had been standing