We learned afterward that they were a set of wild men, many of them fugitives from justice, probably an organized band of robbers, into whose hands we had fallen, and the fear that lay like ice at my heart was that when all our friends and defenders were one by one removed they would carry away and murder my husband too. So I waited, scarcely breathing, for the next return. What I dreaded they did in fact propose to do, saying it was the right way to treat foreigners. They said they had robbed and killed a Japanese officer some years ago, and having never been punished, would be quite safe in treating us in a similar way. On our return to Seoul we found by inquiry that this was true, that while the government had been forced to pay a heavy indemnity, they had never been able to identify and punish the murderers. Had we been overtaken before we reached the village perhaps our fate would have been that of the Japanese; but when the affair reached this point the villagers interfered and forbade. They said they had allowed them to carry off our Korean servants and our money, but should we, foreigners, known at the palace and carrying a passport, be killed there, their village would have to bear the penalty, and we must be spared. They were only a few men, but probably people who, knowing the haunts of the criminals and able to identify them, had them to some extent in their power. The men therefore sullenly filed away, or at least most of them. One or two of the fiercest and most repulsive still hung about, and one of them walked into my room (an insult in the eyes of all Koreans) and insolently stared until my husband, entering, ordered him out. The inn-keeper was a little man not five feet high, who did all in his power to reassure and make me comfortable, as if such a thing were possible with our poor friends in distress, if not dead, and our own fate only too uncertain. It was twenty-five English miles to the nearest magistracy, and doing our best, it would be difficult to reach it that night; but we knew that if any help was to be had for the captives it must be secured at once, aside from the fact that we had no assurance of safety with so small a party until within the walls of the yamen. So it was decided to start as soon as possible. My scared chair coolies had sneaked out of their hiding places in a sufficiently well-preserved condition to be able to partake of a hearty meal, and were soon ready to start. My husband had a Korean pony which possessed the rare virtue of kicking and biting every one who attempted to touch him, except his mapoo and his master; to which quality we were indebted for his being left us that day. One other pony we were able to obtain, but as it of course could carry only our rugs and bedding, the rest of our belongings we were compelled to leave behind.