fire, the eyelids
drooped and, wonderful sight, Kai Bok-su sank into a sleep! The doctor
hardly dared to breathe
If he could only be kept asleep now, he had a chance. Dr. Mackay had
never been a sleeper, he well knew. He was too restless, too
energetic, to allow himself even proper rest.
When Dr. Fraser, his first assistant, had been with him, he had
struggled to persuade him to stay in bed at least six hours every
night, but not always with success. But now he was to show what he
could do in the matter of sleeping. All that night he lay, breathing
peacefully, the next day he slept on from morning till night, and
little by little the ice melted away on his
forehead. He did not move all the next night, and A Hoa and Mrs.
Mackay and the
doctor took
turns at his bedside watching that the precious ice was always there.
Morning came and it was all finished. The patient opened his eyes.
He had slept thirty-six hours, and a thrill of joy went
through every Christian heart in Tamsui, for
their Kai Bok-su was saved! But though the crisis was
over, he was still very weak, and such
was the state of affairs through the country that he was in no
condition to cope with them. Riot and plunder was the
order of the day. News of churches being destroyed, of faithful
Christians being tortured
or put to death, were still coming to the mission house,
and no one could tell what day
would bring Kai Boksu's turn. And now came an order from the British
consul which the missionaries could not disobey. He commanded
that their families must be move
