Silvery moon and frosty air, Eve and dawn are meeting; Widowed wild goose flying there, Hear my words of greeting! On your journey should you see Him I love so broken-hearted, Kindly say this word for me, That it’s death when we are parted. Flapping off the wild goose clambers, Says she will if she remembers. Fill the ink-stone, bring the water, To my love I’ll write a letter; Ink and paper soon will see The one that’s all the world to me, While the pen and I together, Left behind, condole each other. [24] I asked the spotted butterfly. To take me on his wing and fly To yonder mountain’s breezy side. The trixy tiger moth I’ll ride As home I come. [25] In January of 1897, the population of Wön-san was as follows:-- Japanese 1,299 Chinese 39 American 8 German 3 British 2 French 2 Russian 2 Danish 1 Norwegian 1 ----- 1,357 Estimated Korean population, 15,000. CHAPTER XIII IMPENDING WAR--EXCITEMENT AT CHEMULPO Having heard nothing at all of public events during my long inland journey, and only a few rumors of unlocalized collisions between the Tong-haks (rebels) and the Royal troops, the atmosphere of _canards_ at Wön-san was somewhat stimulating, though I had already been long enough in Korea not to attach much importance to the stories with which the air was thick. One day it was said that the Tong-haks had gained great successes and had taken Gatling guns from the Royal army, another that they had been crushed and their mysterious and ubiquitous leader beheaded, while the latest rumor before my departure was that they were marching in great force on Fusan. Judging from the proclamation which they circulated, and which, while stating that they rose against corrupt officials and traitorous advisers, professed unswerving loyalty to the throne, it seemed credible that, if there were a throb of patriotism anywhere in Korea, it was in the breasts of these peasants. Their risings appeared to be free from excesses and useless bloodshed, and they confined themselves to the attempt to carry out their programme of reform. Some foreign sympathy was bestowed upon them, because it was thought that the iniquities of misrule could go no further, and that the time was ripe for an armed protest on a larger scale than the ordinary peasant risings against intolerable exactions. But at the very moment when these matters were being discussed in Wön-san with not more than a languid interest, a formidable menace to the established order of things was taking shape, destined in a few days to cast the Tong-haks into the shade, and concentrate the attention of the world on this insignificant peninsula.