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 once,
because since he was captured, he had had nothing but rice. His friends
had to lend him clothes, for his were worn out.
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:
Text in italics is surrounded with underscores: _italics_.
Inconsistencies in spelling, punctuation, and hyphenation have been
standardized.