  On a cold November morning a group of girls stood beside two mules in front of a house in Batang on the border of Tibet. Two were Americans, and the others, Tibetans. "How long must you stay in America, Doris?" asked one of the Tibetan girls very sadly. "If I study hard every day," answered Doris, "I can come back in ten years." "That's not so bad," said another of the girls, "because, you see, if you will study night and day, you can get through and come back in five years." "We must go," said Dorothy. "Father and Mother have gone on a half-hour ago." There were tears in all eyes as Doris and Dorothy sprang into their saddles. "Good-by! Good-by!" they called as the mules started forward. Since they were babies, Doris and Dorothy Shelton had lived in Tibet, the land that is called "the roof of the world," because it is higher than any other country in the world. They had taken many trips, clinging to the backs of their The Shelton Family Crossing the Mountains of Tibet Mrs. Shelton and the girls are in the chairs carried by barefoot coolies. They soon overtook their mother and father and the servants. In front of the party rode guards, for the country was full of robber bands. Then came six mule drivers driving the twenty-five mules Last of all, on a mule strong enough to carry his two hundred and thirty pounds, rode Dr. Albert Shelton. Everyone in Batang knew "Big Doctor Shelton," and everyone loved him. Seventeen years before this time, when he left the medical school in Kansas, he looked over a map of the world to find the place that needed a doctor most. There was not a town in Kansas that did not have a doctor in it or near to it, "I should like to go to a place where there are no other doctors," he said. "Well, then," said a friend, "go to Tibet. That is the place for you, because in all Tibet there is no doctor. But you may not get there alive. The Dalai Lama, who is the head of everything in Tibet, government and Buddhist Church, lives in Lhasa, the capital, and he will not let any Christian missionary or doctor come within the walls of his city. Some have tried to go, but most of them were killed." The more Albert Shelton thought about the land without a doctor, the more he wished to go there. He talked to his young wife, and she wanted to go, too, so one day they took a steamer from San Francisco and crossed the Pacific Ocean to China where a boat carried them a thousand miles up the Yangtze River. Then they went still farther on a little Chinese house-boat pulled by thirty men who walked along the bank. After the house-boat had gone up the river for nearly two months, they stepped off on shore and rode on the backs of mules for seven hundred miles. More than a year after they left Kansas, they reached the town of Tatsienlu on the border of Tibet. If they could have stuck a pin eight Doris and Dorothy were born at Tatsienlu, among mountains that rose more than twenty thousand feet above the level of the ocean, so high that they were covered with snow in July and August. They were used to the strange little "yaks,"—houses covered with goat's hair. They watched their father make brick and saw lumber and teach the men how to build houses like the one he had built for himself. After five years Dr. Shelton was permitted to go farther inland to Batang to start a hospital. When the people heard of the "good doctor" who had come so far across the ocean, and who could do such wonderful things to make sick people well, they came from all over the country to see him. At first he had to use for his operating table a door laid across two tables. Then he and his friends sawed lumber and baked brick and built a hospital. For ten years he lived at Batang, and many thousands of people came there to be helped. Dr. Shelton Treating a Tibetan Boy He ministered to all who needed him despite the lack of a hospital. This treatment is being given on a house top. Then a wonderful thing happened—Dr. Shelton was to go into Lhasa, the capital of the land-without-a-doctor. Before going to Lhasa Dr. Shelton planned to take Mrs. Shelton and Doris and Dorothy to the port of Hongkong, from which they were to sail to America, where the girls were to go to school. It was on this journey that they were starting on this November morning. Mrs. Shelton did not want to say good-by to the people of Batang, whom she loved, so she tried to slip away before daybreak. But as she and the doctor rode along, they found people lined up on either side of the road to bid them good-by. Many had left their homes the night before and had marched ahead so they could stand by the road and see their "big doctor" and his wife and children once more. An escort of twenty-five boys had been sent ahead. All the way from Batang to the Yangtze River, a journey of a day and a half, the people were gathered along the roadside. For thirty-six days Doris and Dorothy rode on their mules. Then they were so tired, their father got chairs for them and they were carried by the servants. "Are you afraid of robbers, Doris? I heard Andru and Shen-si say that Yang Tien-fu, the leader of a dreadful band must be near by. He is very angry at the government. He used to be a colonel in the Chinese army, but they didn't pay his salary, so he got a band of men to join him, and they live out in the mountains. Andru said they stop all travelers and take pay from them." "I'm not afraid," said Doris. "We have soldiers to guard us." "I'm glad we are almost at Yunnanfu. Forty-seven days is a long time to ride. Father says we will be at Yunnanfu in just two and a half days." Suddenly, as the mules came out from behind a bend in the road, they threw back their ears and stopped. The report of a pistol rang out. "Robbers! Robbers!" shouted the soldiers. Another pistol shot followed, and the robbers sprang down through the brush of the mountainside. There was a crashing of glass, as a bullet struck the thermos bottle by Mrs. Shelton's side. "Robbers! Robbers!" shouted the four soldiers again. One shot off his gun; then all four ran back to the village. Bullets flew. The bandits surrounded Dr. Shelton; one drew a large pistol and another a great sword. Dr. Shelton saw there was no chance to escape, so he let them take from him his field-glasses, his camera, and everything else they wanted. Andru was seized and his knife and chop-sticks taken from his belt. Holding up Dr. Shelton by both arms, two of the bandits led him up the mountain to their chief. The others tried to get Mrs. Shelton to climb the bluff which rose straight before them, but she was not able. Then they tried to carry her, but they could not get up the steep, narrow path with a load. Doris wore gloves, but little Dorothy's hands were bare. The robbers saw her rings and took them off her fingers. Dorothy loved those rings which had been given to her by her friends, and she began to cry. Doris had been very much frightened by the robbers, but when she saw one of them with Dorothy's rings, she forgot about herself and going up to the robber said: "You give those rings back to Dorothy!" The robber smiled at the girl who was so brave for her little sister and actually handed the rings back. Meanwhile Dr. Shelton was being hurried along up the mountainside to the robber chief. Taller and stronger than any of the men who stood about him was Yang Tien-fu. He looked with interest at the things his men had taken from the travelers and examined Dr. Shelton's camera and field-glasses. "How can this picture-box make pictures?" he asked. "Now stop and make my picture." Dr. Shelton snapped the kodak. "Now take my picture out of the box and let me see it." "There is no picture there yet," said Dr. Shelton. Yang Tien-fu would not believe him and made him open the camera and spoil the first picture of a robber chief he had ever had a chance to take. Dr. Shelton could look down to the valley and watch the battle between the bandits and the soldiers. He saw Mrs. Shelton's empty chair. "Why do you want to take me as a prisoner?" he asked. "I have no money," said Dr. Shelton. "But your people will offer me a ransom. I have plenty of soldiers in my land, but they have little to fight with. I will tell your people that if they will send me fifty thousand dollars' worth of guns and powder and bullets I will release you. And that is not all. The government has taken my family and is keeping them as prisoners. I will tell them that if they will send my family back to me, I will send you back to them. Get on your mule, for we must travel far from here." Over the rough, steep road of the mountain they rode for many hours. Not until the sun went down did they stop to rest and to wait for their companions. They built a fire and cooked rice. After they had eaten, they took out their long pipes and smoked opium. Dr. Shelton counted seventy-one men. When those who had stayed to fight the soldiers overtook the band, Dr. Shelton saw that one man was shot through the ankle. He opened his saddle-bags and dressed the wound while Yang Tien-fu watched with interest. After resting a few hours they started to travel again. For three days and nights Dr. Shelton did not take off his clothes or sleep. Sometimes he lay Day after day the bandits traveled over the mountains. When they stopped, forty guards were sent in every direction, for Yang Tien-fu knew that the government had offered a reward of five thousand dollars to anyone who would capture him dead or alive. Sometimes he divided his men, sending a party to march straight down over the steep mountainside to make a false trail, and often he stood on some high bluff and laughed as he watched the soldiers being led astray. Almost every day, and sometimes many times a day, the bandits would stop a company of travelers and take their money or go into a little village and rob the frightened people. If the villagers gave them what they asked for, there was no fighting. Yang Tien-fu would go into the temple, which was the meeting place of the people, and send his men out to find one of the head men of the village. When he came in, the chief would say: "We are not robbers. We are traveling to Then the head men would look at Dr. Shelton with great respect and interest and start off to get all the things the great foreign official must have. Meanwhile Dr. Shelton tried to get them to understand that he was a prisoner. Often he had to smile at the cunning of the robber chief. As they went along, Dr. Shelton saw many people who were sick and many whose eyes were sore or blind. He said to Yang Tien-fu, "I left America to help the sick people in Tibet. Since you are keeping me away from my hospital in Batang, you must let me have a hospital along the road." So the chief waited while the doctor healed the sick. Many soldiers joined the band, and the doctor ministered to all who needed him. One day the chief said, "You are an honest man. I want you to be one of my men and stay with us. These other fellows can't be trusted. Even our treasurer steals. Stay with us and be the pastor and the doctor for me and my men. I will pay you twelve thousand dollars a year and give you half of it right now." Dr. Shelton chuckled. He wondered whether anyone else had ever been invited to be the pastor of a robber band. "But, Doris," said Dorothy, "there is no chance for Father to escape. He is guarded all the time." "The Bible says that Paul and Silas were sleeping right between guards, and God opened the doors of the prison," said Doris. "If we pray, God may open some door so Father can escape." Thus while the robber band was climbing the steep mountain and leading their tired prisoner farther and farther away, two little girls knelt down to pray. For nearly three weeks no message came. "If we could only know if Father is still living and if he is well!" said Mrs. Shelton. "Yes," said Doris. "Or if we could get a message to him so he could know we are praying for him!" One day Shen-si, the Chinese cook who had lived with them many years, said: "I will carry your message to my master and bring his message to you." "How can you find him, Shen-si?" asked Dorothy. "How will you get past the chief of the bandits?" Mrs. Shelton and the girls wrote letters and Shen-si started out to find his master. All along the way he followed the robbers, asking questions until he reached the place where he was told his master was. He went boldly up to the guards. "I come on important business," he announced. "I must speak to your chief." The guards led him to Yang Tien-fu. Behind the chief he saw his master, so changed that he scarcely knew him. A long beard had grown over his smooth face, and he was so weak he could scarcely walk. Tears came into Shen-si's eyes. Dr. Shelton was allowed to send a message back, and he handed Shen-si a copy of Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush to take to Mrs. Shelton. This he had had in his saddle-bags when the robbers captured him. On the margins he had written daily messages to his wife. One of the last was: "I am tired to death; all I can say in my desolation is, 'Make Thy grace sufficient for me, O God.'" With the precious book Shen-si started back. A Roadside Luncheon in Tibet Dr. Shelton and his daughters at luncheon with a group of Tibetan friends. "The government has sent a messenger to me to say that my family is at the priest's house and that if I will send you there in exchange, my family will be given to me. I am almost afraid to trust them, for they do not keep their word as you do, but I am going to send you to the priest's house with a strong guard." Twenty of the robbers took Dr. Shelton to the priest's house. There Yang Tien-fu found only his wife and mother. "What do two women amount to?" he said angrily. "I can buy another wife as good as that one for a hundred dollars any time. Have them bring me my son." A contract was prepared promising Yang Tien-fu that if he would release Dr. Shelton, the Chinese government would give him pardon for himself and his men, make him an officer in the army, return all his family to him and give him the arms and ammunition for which he had asked. On the next day the contract was to be signed by him and by the Chinese governor. Late at night some of the men, who had been out watching, hurried to the chief. "The government has you in a trap," they Quickly Yang Tien-fu took both his family and Dr. Shelton, and at midnight they slipped out between the circles of soldiers, back to the mountains. Again began the long, hard journeys. Soon Yang Tien-fu saw that his prisoner was too weak to walk or even to sit on his mule, so he had a rough chair made for him. For thirty-seven hours they carried him, running as fast as they could, for the soldiers were following. One day the chief said: "The doctor is so sick and weak he can go no farther. Take him to the loft of that barn and hide him in the straw. Place four guards with him. If he dies, hide his body where no one will find it; if he gets well, send a messenger to me, and I will come for him." The men made a tunnel through the rice-straw to the back of the loft, digging out a space large enough for a bed for the doctor at the end. They took a brick out of the wall to make a small hole for a window. As they dragged their sick prisoner into his straw house, one of them said: "The 'big doctor' is the same as a dead man." The newspapers all over the world had printed the story of Dr. Shelton's capture by Meanwhile the "big doctor," almost too weak to move, was lying on his bed of straw, with his head by the little window. "Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday,"—he counted the days as they went by. An old Chinese man brought him rice, and the rest and food made him feel so much better that the men who were guarding him slipped off to tell the chief he was not dead, leaving the Chinese to guard him. Late one afternoon the old man cried out in terror, "The soldiers are coming!" and ran as fast as he could. Dr. Shelton crawled to the street and called to the Chinese runner who had so frightened his guard. The villagers had heard the cries, "The soldiers are coming!" and had run to the hills. When the messenger found out that the man who stood before him was the "big As soon as he could get his breath, he helped the doctor to escape. Leaning on his deliverer's arm, Dr. Shelton crept along for a quarter of a mile to the next village. There was no horse on which he could ride and no chair on which he could be carried, but eight men of the village were persuaded to help. They twisted ropes of wild grass and tied them about the doctor's waist. Some men lifted, some pushed, and some pulled on the ropes until they reached the next village, which was fortunately a Christian village. The people met them with joy. They were afraid to stop long for fear the robbers would overtake them, so they slept for only an hour and then started on. They found two small ponies, and at half-past four in the morning they offered a prayer that God would take care of the "big doctor," and lifted him to a pony's back. He was so weak that two men had to hold him on. When one pony was tired, they lifted him to the other. Presently Dr. Shelton looked up and saw two hundred soldiers approaching, and soon recognized his friends. He heard English spoken for the first time in sixty-six days, and he could not speak for joy. One of the rescue party had a box of crackers. He ate them at At the gate of Yunnanfu five hundred people came to welcome Dr. Shelton home. First and foremost were two little girls who ran to put their arms round his neck and whisper, "We prayed for you! We prayed for you! The Lord does answer prayers, doesn't he?" Dr. Shelton patted the two heads. "Of course he does," he said. "That is why I am here." TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES: Inconsistencies in spelling, punctuation, and hyphenation have been standardized. |
|
