Busy bodies amongst the Russian officials hauled down the American flag from the correspondents’ mess, and wished to remove the British ensign from their compound. They had to be made re-hoist one and allow both to remain. Then there were foreign residents who thought Newchwang the centre of the universe, and believed that through the correspondents the people of the British Empire could be made to take a real interest in the protection of their private property in Newchwang. And in this wise were we kept occupied, and whilst seemingly devoted to these things, or apparently idling, and waiting, and holding ourselves at the pleasure of our Russian authorities, we were forced to make time in which to do our real work unknown and unobserved. CHAPTER VIII In Neutral Territory There is a portion of the Chinese Empire outside the Great Wall which was tacitly regarded by both Russians and Japanese as beyond the legitimate sphere of war. It lies west of the Liao, and extends to the Mongolian boundary. Its length is about 250 miles, and its greatest width less than a hundred; the eastern portion comprises much of the Liao plain, swampy land, with barren stretches and salt-pans in the south, and well cultivated grain lands in the north. On the west are the Hai mountains, a chain of rugged rocks with fertile slopes and excellent corn and grazing ground, where they rise from the plain. Nominally, this territory is governed by Chinese authorities; actually it is domineered by Russian troops foraging for supplies, by Japanese agents, and by the chiefs of independent mountain villages, whose inhabitants are usually regarded as robbers, bandits, Redbeards, or Hunghuses.