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diff --git a/42886-8.txt b/42886-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index a9d65dc..0000000 --- a/42886-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,7434 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Blue Dragon, by Kirk Munroe - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: The Blue Dragon - A Tale of Recent Adventure in China - -Author: Kirk Munroe - -Release Date: June 6, 2013 [EBook #42886] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BLUE DRAGON *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Bergquist, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - - - - - - - - - The Blue Dragon - - A TALE OF RECENT ADVENTURE IN CHINA - - BY Kirk Munroe - - AUTHOR OF THE "MATES SERIES" THE "PACIFIC COAST SERIES" "FORWARD - MARCH" ETC. - - - ILLUSTRATED - - [Illustration] - - NEW YORK AND LONDON - HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS - 1905 - - Copyright, 1904, by Harper & Brothers. - - _All rights reserved._ - - Published October, 1904. - - - - -[Illustration: "A HORSEMAN FLED BEFORE THEM"] - - - - -CONTENTS - - -CHAPTER PAGE - -I. A STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND 1 - -II. AMERICA'S UNFRIENDLY WELCOME 10 - -III. ROB TO THE RESCUE 18 - -IV. A TRIUMPH FOR JO'S ENEMIES 26 - -V. THREATENED VIOLENCE 35 - -VI. THE SHERIFF TAKES PROMPT MEASURES 44 - -VII. THE SENTENCE OF THE COURT 52 - -VIII. JO'S ENEMIES PREPARE A TRAP 61 - -IX. JO FINDS THAT HE IS SOME ONE ELSE 70 - -X. WHAT HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO CHINA 79 - -XI. ACCEPT A KINDNESS AND PASS IT ALONG 88 - -XII. FROM THE GOLDEN GATE TO THE PEARL RIVER 97 - -XIII. IN THE WORLD'S MOST MARVELLOUS CITY 106 - -XIV. A TURN OF FORTUNE'S TIDE 116 - -XV. IN THE HEART OF UNKNOWN CHINA 125 - -XVI. "FISTS OF RIGHTEOUS HARMONY" 134 - -XVII. LEAPING INTO UNKNOWN BLACKNESS 143 - -XVIII. A SUPPER OF SACRED EELS 151 - -XIX. AN EXHIBITION OF THE RAIN-GOD'S ANGER 160 - -XX. ROB MAKES A STARTLING DISCOVERY 169 - -XXI. THE REFUGEES OF CHENG-TING-FU 178 - -XXII. A CHARGE AND A RACE FOR LIFE 187 - -XXIII. STEALING A LOCOMOTIVE 196 - -XXIV. THE TIMELY EXPLOSION OF A BOILER 204 - -XXV. IN CHINA'S CAPITAL CITY 213 - -XXVI. WAR CLOUDS 222 - -XXVII. CHINA DEFIES THE WORLD 231 - -XXVIII. FIGHTING SIXTY FEET ABOVE GROUND 241 - -XXIX. JO HEAPS COALS OF FIRE 250 - -XXX. THE CAPTURE OF PEKIN 260 - - - - -ILLUSTRATIONS - - -"A HORSEMAN FLED BEFORE THEM" _Frontispiece_ - -MAP SHOWING ROUTE FOLLOWED BY AUTHOR _Facing p._ 1 - -"AS POOR JO LOST HIS FOOTING AND FELL, ROB DASHED INTO THE MÊLÉE" 20 - -"HIS MADLY YELLING PURSUERS WERE NOW CLOSE UPON HIM" 140 - -"THE FUGITIVES MADE A CAUTIOUS ENTRY INTO THE SACRED PRECINCTS" 152 - -"HE WAS ABLE TO GAZE CALMLY AT HER WHEN THEY ONCE MORE WERE ESCORTED -PAST THE CATHEDRAL" 184 - -"SO THEY DROVE ON, MILE AFTER MILE" 204 - -"THE SAVAGES FLED IN DISMAY BEFORE THAT CHARGE OF YELLING AMERICANS" 248 - - - - -TO MY READERS - - -The Blue Dragon, chosen as a title for this story, is the national -emblem of China, adopted as such by a desire to flatter and propitiate -that spirit of evil considered to be the most powerful. As the dragon -is believed to be big enough and strong enough to overcome and devour -all the other wicked genii who continually vex Chinese life, the wise -men of the "Black-haired People" thought it best to have him on their -side, and consequently accorded him the highest honor in their power -to bestow. As we of America chose the eagle, strongest of visible air -spirits, for our national emblem, so the Chinese chose the most powerful -of invisible spirits in whose existence they believe as firmly as we do -in the existence of things that we can see, hear, or feel. - -In the story thus entitled, I have endeavored to give an idea of what -China has been, is, and may become through education and development, -how she is regarded, and how her people are being treated by other -nations, and what causes she has for resentment against those who are -taking advantage of her feebleness to despoil her. - -While travelling in China, and trying to gain the Chinese point of -view, I met so many charming people, so many men of intelligence and -liberal education, honorable, broad-minded, and devoted to the uplifting -of their unhappy country, that I became exceedingly interested in their -cause, and anxious to aid it. With this object in view I am striving, -through the medium of a story, to present it to those young Americans -who, in the near future, will be called upon to decide the ultimate fate -of the great Middle Kingdom. With them, more than with any other people, -even including the Chinese themselves, will rest the decision, whether -China shall remain a nation, open to the unobstructed commerce of the -world, or become a series of petty colonial possessions devoted only -to the interests of their several ruling powers. That my young readers -may be guided to a wise and just solution of this great problem, is the -sincere hope of their friend, - - -KIRK MUNROE. - -BISCAYNE BAY, FLORIDA, - -_January, 1904_. - -[Illustration: MAP SHOWING ROUTE FOLLOWED BY AUTHOR] - - - - -THE BLUE DRAGON - - - - -CHAPTER I - -A STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND - - -"Chinee! Chinee! Chink! Chink! Chink!" - -These epithets, and many others equally contemptuous, such as "Rat -Eater!" and "Piggy Tail!" were gleefully shouted by a mob of young -ragamuffins who crowded about a single youthful figure, early one summer -morning, on the elm-shaded main street of Hatton. The lad thus hustled -and insulted was a good-looking chap according to the standard of his -own people; though his long-lashed, wide-set eyes were narrower than -those of his tormentors, his clear complexion held a tint of yellow, the -front half of his head was shaved, and the remaining luxuriant growth -of jet-black hair, such as all Chinese have, and of which they are so -proud that they call themselves "the black-haired people," hung in a -thick, glossy braid down his back. He wore a blue gown that fastened -closely about his neck and fell in severely simple lines, without belt -or ornamentation, almost to his feet. Below it could be seen a pair of -black silk trousers, tightly fastened over a narrow section of white -stockings, that in turn were lost to view in black cloth shoes having -embroidered tops and felt soles. He had worn a round, visorless cap of -black silk, surmounted by a crimson knot, but this had been knocked -off, and now was being ruthlessly kicked and trampled underfoot by the -hoodlums who, having discovered a victim that could be abused with -impunity, were making the most of the welcome chance. Nor were they -without encouragement in their cruel sport; for a group of men and young -women, on their way to the great factory that was at once the mainstay -of Hatton's prosperity and an ever-threatening menace, had paused to -enjoy the sight of a crowd of American boys tormenting a helpless -foreigner, and greeted the sorry spectacle with shouts of laughter. - -"That's right, kiddies!" cried one of the men. "Down with the -yellowbelly, and teach him that this country ain't no place fer him nor -his kind." - -"Dirty, rat-eating scab!" growled another. - -"Somehow, it don't seem right, though," said one of the young women, -with a tone of pity in her voice, as the badgered lad was suddenly -jerked backward and nearly thrown to the ground by a violent pull at his -queue. "He does look so like a girl, with his blue dress, his little -hands, and his braided hair." - -"Oh, hush up, Mag! You're too soft for anything!" exclaimed another. -"He ain't nothing but just a low-lived heathen Chinee, like them as -runs the laundry over to Adams. They'd take the bread out of honest -working-people's mouths quick as wink, if they was give half a chance." - -Just then the factory bell rang with insistent clamor, and the jeering -group of workers moved on. At a meeting held a few evenings before -they had loudly cheered and unanimously passed a resolution to the -effect that the government ought immediately to deport to their own -country, at their own expense, all Chinese found within its territory. -One of the speakers had declared that, if the government was slow in -doing this thing, it was the duty of every American citizen to take -the matter into his own hands, drive out the Chinese wherever found, -destroy their places of business, and hunt them to the death if they -offered resistance. Of course, the children of those men, having heard -this resolution discussed, and its accompanying speeches repeated with -applauding comments, deemed it their privilege to attack, and, if -possible, drive from their virtuous village every representative of -the hated race they might encounter; and, unfortunately for him, poor, -innocent, helpless Chinese Jo was the first to fall into their joyful -clutches. - -This was the first experience of his first day in Hatton, which he had -reached after dark the evening before. He had come to America, from -his far-away native land, in company with a dozen others of his young -countrymen. These others had been sent over by the Chinese government -to be educated and taught the ways of Western civilization; and Jo's -father, Li Ching Cheng, a progressive mandarin, who realized the value -of such an education, had seized the opportunity to add his one dear son -to the party, that he might gain the priceless advantage of some years -of study in the same land. - -Now it happened that in Mandarin Li's district labored an American -medical missionary, Mason Hinckley by name, who also had an only son. -When this boy was four years old, his parents, desirous that he should -have an American training from the outset, had taken him to the United -States and placed him in charge of his uncle and aunt, the Rev. William -and Mrs. Hinckley, of Hatton, a manufacturing village of the lovely -Connecticut valley. Then, with aching hearts, they had returned to -their lonely post of duty in China, and only twice during the following -fourteen years were they able to visit their boy. - -When Mandarin Li announced that he, too, proposed to send a son to -America, and asked if the Hinckleys could not arrange to have him -received into the same family with their Rob, they gladly consented -to do what they could. Their hope for their own boy was that he would -eventually return to China, and they realized the value to him of a -present companionship with a young Chinese of education and refinement. -So a letter was sent to Hatton, and finally everything was arranged for -the comfort and happiness of Mandarin Li's son. Thus he was sent forth -on his long journey, half-way around the world, filled with a joyous -enthusiasm over his prospects. - -He and his young friends travelled in charge of a home-returning -American, who had promised to see them safely to their several -destinations in New England. By his advice they adopted English names -for use in the country to which they were bound, and our lad chose -that of Joseph. As his father's surname was Li, which, in Chinese, is -pronounced "Lee," he thus became known to his future teachers and more -precise acquaintances as Joseph Lee; but all his American boy friends -called him "Chinese Jo," or "China Jo," or "Chinee Jo," according to -their several degrees of intelligence, and it is thus that we shall -know him as we accompany him through the various adventures which it is -proposed to record in the following pages. - -They began, as already has been seen, with his very first morning in the -new home that he had reached the evening before, tired from his long -journey, bewildered by the multitude of strange sights and experiences -that had crowded thickly about him from the moment of landing at San -Francisco, and terrified at the great loneliness that had come to him -with the departure of his comrades, who had been left, by twos, at other -places before Hatton was reached. At the last of these points, only a -few miles away, the gentleman who had escorted them from China had been -obliged to send him on alone, after notifying the Hinckleys by telegraph -of his coming. - -Rob met him at the Hatton station, looked after his luggage of queer -camphor-wood boxes, and took him to the pleasant parsonage that was to -be his home in the strange land. Although Jo talked only broken English, -while Rob had very nearly forgotten the Chinese of his childhood, -they managed to converse after a fashion, and took to each other from -the very first. Rob, eighteen years old, brown, broad-shouldered, and -sturdy, offered a striking contrast in appearance to the slender lad -who walked, with noiseless, felt-shod feet, beside him, and Jo at once -conceived a liking for the young American, who greeted him so cordially, -took charge of him and his affairs with such an air of authority, and -even could speak a few words of intelligible Chinese. - -Rob also was pleased with the foreign lad, whose appearance recalled a -happy childhood spent in company with many such blue-clad figures on the -other side of the world. At the same time he was glad that Jo had not -reached his destination a few hours earlier; for he realized that the -strangeness of his companion's costume and his general make-up would -have attracted much unpleasant attention from the village boys had they -been revealed by daylight. He determined to urge upon his uncle the -advisability of confining Jo to the house on the following day, or until -he could be provided with an outfit of American clothing, and persuaded -to wear his hair in accordance with American ideas. - -A warm welcome and a good supper awaited the young traveller at the -parsonage; and under their cheering influence his homesickness was, -for the time being, forgotten. His boxes were promptly delivered at -the house, and from them he took the most marvellous array of gifts -for various members of the Hinckley family that ever had been seen -in Hatton. To Mrs. Hinckley he presented several superb pieces of -embroidered silks from Canton, a centre-piece for a table of pale-blue -grass linen, drawn work from Swatow, a cloisonné teapot from Pekin, -and half a dozen tiny teacups of exquisite Foo-Chow porcelain. For Mr. -Hinckley he had wonderful ivory carvings in the shape of chessmen, and -a wadded silk dressing-gown; while to Rob, in addition to several jars -of Chinese confections, including sugared ginger-root, bamboo-tips, -water-melon rind, edible sea-weeds, and palm-leaf buds, he gave a -complete suit of Chinese clothing, such as is worn by the sons of -wealthy mandarins, and selected from his own wardrobe. It was in -striking contrast to the simple scholar's gown of light-blue cotton -cloth that he had adopted as an inconspicuous travelling costume; for -its dark-blue skirt was heavily embroidered with gold thread; it had a -jacket of light-blue silk, with wide, flowing sleeves, a wine-colored, -sleeveless over-jacket of the same rich material, black silk trousers, -with plum-colored over-trousers, a light-blue silk cap, with a crystal -button on top, silken socks, and gold-embroidered felt shoes. - -Rob gasped with amazement when the various parts of this superb -costume were unfolded before him, and was inclined to regard it with -contemptuous amusement. - -"All these silk petticoats and things for a boy!" he sniffed. "Catch me -ever wearing such a lot of girl's stuff! And, I say, Uncle Will, that -reminds me--don't you think we'd better get him into American clothes, -and have his pig-tail cut off, before he is turned loose on the street. -He'll jump into no end of trouble if he shows outside in anything like -these, or even as he is now. It looks funny even to me, and I'll bet he -couldn't walk down Main Street without being mobbed." - -"I myself think that the sooner he conforms to the dress and customs of -the country in which he is to reside for some time to come, the better -it will be for him," replied Mr. Hinckley. "But, Rob, I don't like the -way you seem inclined to treat his gift, and I am very glad he could not -wholly understand what you just said about it. A gift of any nature, -offered as a token of friendliness and good-will, should be accepted -in the same spirit, even though it may not be just what you would have -chosen. I do not know of anything that hurts one's feelings more keenly -than to have a friendly overture contemptuously rejected." - -"Of course, I wouldn't hurt his feelings for anything, Uncle Will," -replied Rob, with a contrite flush mounting to his forehead. "I already -like him too much for that, and I wouldn't have said what I did about -his present if I had thought. I do thank you ever so much," he added, -turning to Jo, "for all this silk stuff. I'm awfully glad to have it, -and I'll put it away to wear at my first fancy-dress ball, if I ever go -to one. Anyway, whenever I look at it, I'll be reminded that Chinese Jo -is my friend, and that I am his." - -Although Jo did not understand all the words thus spoken, he was so -fully satisfied with their tone and the smile that accompanied them -that, a little while later, when he went to bed, he was happy in the -consciousness of having gained a friend of his own age in this strange -land of strangers. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -AMERICA'S UNFRIENDLY WELCOME - - -In spite of Jo's weariness of the night before, and the sound sleep -that followed, he was out of bed by sunrise and gazing curiously from -his chamber window. The air was sweet and cool, the arching elms stood -motionless, as though not yet awake, and between them he caught a -silvery gleam of the Connecticut. Beyond it rose soft, swelling hills, -and he imagined their green slopes to be thickly strewn with graves, -as always is the case in China; on them, too, he could see occasional -groves of trees, each of which he supposed must shelter a white-walled -temple or sacred shrine, this being the prime object of groves in his -native land. - -He wondered at not seeing any tall-sailed junks or guard-boats on the -river, and at the utter absence of the useless but picturesque pagoda -towers that add so much to the beauty of every Chinese landscape. -Then, remembering that America is a very new country in comparison -with his own, he concluded that its people had not yet found time to -build pagodas, or, perhaps, were too poor. Of course, he could trace no -resemblance between the broad, well-shaded avenue below him, with its -rows of neat, white houses, and the narrow, crowded, shadeless streets -to which he was accustomed. At the same time, the green country on -which he gazed looked so very like a bit of Chinese river valley that -he longed to explore it, with a hope of finding thatched farm-houses, -curve-roofed temples, or other homelike features that should recall his -own beloved valley of the Si-Kiang. He listened with pleasure to the -singing of birds, which were infinitely more numerous than in China, and -to the tinkle of cow-bells, a sound he never before had heard. He wished -he might go down to the street and begin at once his study of the many -strange things it was certain to contain, and he wondered how soon a -servant would appear in his room with the bowl of tea that would be the -signal for rising. - -While he thus was cogitating, he heard a door below him open and close, -and then he saw his newly made friend, Rob Hinckley, go whistling down -the street, swinging in one hand a bright tin milk-can. If he only had -known that Rob was up and going out, he might have gone, too. Perhaps -even now he might overtake him and have a walk in his company. He was -dressed, and the only thing about him not thoroughly presentable was his -queue, which, not yet cared for that morning, looked rough and unkempt. -At home some one always had combed and braided it for him, first his -mother, and afterwards a servant. Since coming away, one of his Chinese -companions and he had braided each other's queues every morning. Now -Jo wondered who was to perform this service, but supposed that sooner -or later some servant would come to his assistance. He wished the lazy -fellow had appeared, and that this most important feature of his toilet -had been attended to, for in China no gentleman will present himself on -the street or in company unless his queue is carefully braided smooth -and glossy. Exposed to public view in any other condition, it is a sign -that its owner is in such deep affliction that he takes no interest even -in the most important affairs of life. - -Having been carefully instructed in this branch of Chinese etiquette, -Jo was puzzled as to what he should do. He longed to join Rob on his -walk, but hesitated to offend his friend by appearing before him with a -disordered queue. He could not put it in order himself, and no one was -at hand to assist him. Of course, he might conceal the fact that it was -frowzy by coiling it about his head and hiding it beneath his cap; but -even this plan had its drawback, for in the Flowery Kingdom it is an -almost unpardonable offence for any man to appear in the presence of his -superiors with queue coiled about his head or in any other way hidden. -Still, the only superiors recognized at present by Jo were the senior -Hinckleys, and by going down-stairs very quietly he might slip out of -the house without attracting their notice, and so avoid giving offence. - -Thus thinking, the lad hastily coiled his cherished but at that moment -rather disreputable-looking queue closely about his head, pulled his -cap over it, and, softly opening his room door, stole forth with the -noiseless tread of a sneak-thief. He got safely as far as the front -door, but there he made so much noise fumbling with the unfamiliar latch -as to attract the attention of Mr. Hinckley, who was dressing, and he -called down, "Who's there?" - -Not understanding the question, and as dismayed at the prospect of -being discovered with his queue disrespectfully coiled as an American -boy would be if caught stealing jam, Jo made no reply, but redoubled -his efforts at the door. Suddenly, as he was pulling it with all his -strength, the latch turned and the door flew open, sending him to the -floor with a crash. Mrs. Hinckley screamed, and her husband, shouting -"Stop thief!" started down-stairs. He failed, however, to reach the -bottom in time to discover the author of the disturbance, for Jo, -thoroughly, frightened by the untoward result of his efforts to enact -the part of a Chinese gentleman, had hastily scrambled to his feet and -fled through the now wide-open door. Although the minister did not -see him, Mrs. Hinckley, peeping between the half-closed slats of the -window-blinds, did, and exclaimed: - -"My good gracious, William! If it isn't that China boy!" - -"Nonsense," replied Mr. Hinckley, as, realizing the futility of a chase -under existing conditions, he hastened back to the room. - -"I tell you it is, for I just saw him with my own eyes, blue dress and -all, go flying down the street as though the constable was after him. -I've no doubt he ought to be, too, for the boy's run away--that's what -he's done--and probably taken every mite of silver in the house with -him." - -"Nonsense!" again ejaculated Mr. Hinckley, as he slipped on a pair of -trousers. - -"You may say 'nonsense' as much as you like," retorted his wife, "but -you'll think something else when you find out that every word I'm -speaking is solemn truth. I always did mistrust the Chinese, and so -would you if you'd heard all the stories I have about their dreadful -wickedness down at the society." - -"Didn't know any of them belonged to the society," interposed Mr. -Hinckley, unable even at this critical moment to resist a sly joke at -his wife's expense. - -"You know what I mean, William Hinckley, just as well as I do," was the -reply; "and I do think this is a pretty time to be poking fun at your -poor wife, when a pig-tailed 'yellow peril,' as he is truly called, is -running off with every mite of her own mother's family silver. It's no -wonder we are trying to exclude them, and I only wish we'd succeeded -before this one ever came to Hatton. They do say down at the society -that the Chinese are about to overrun the world; and, from what I've -just seen, I've no doubt it's true." - -"Of course, it must be so if _they_ say so, my dear," answered -the minister, as he fastened his shirt-collar; "but I'll try some -overrunning myself after this first 'yellow peril' who has ever tried -to overrun Hatton. As he is too conspicuous an object to run far without -attracting attention, I expect to catch up with him very shortly, and -to return with him inside of half an hour. Then I hope breakfast will -be ready, for both of us are certain to be extremely hungry after our -exercise." - -"Perhaps it will, if he's left a bit of food in the house to cook or -a thing to cook with, which I doubt," retorted Mrs. Hinckley, as her -husband, now wholly dressed, again started towards the street. In the -mean time, Chinese Jo, quite unaware of the turmoil he had left behind -him, and only anxious to overtake Rob, whom he just could see far down -the street, had, as Mrs. Hinckley declared, set forth on a run in that -direction. Also, as Mr. Hinckley had predicted, he was too strangely -conspicuous to run far without attracting attention. At first the few -people on the street at this early hour only stared at him, but after a -little they began to call and point at him, and boys began to pursue him -with joyous shouts of anticipated fun. - -All at once Jo discovered that Rob no longer was in sight, and also that -a number of small boys, all yelling at the top of their voices, were -running on both sides of him. Fearing lest he might pass the place where -he had last seen his friend, and puzzled to account for his present -escort, the Chinese lad stopped and looked about him. He had reached the -village common, on which half a dozen disreputable young ragamuffins -were playing an early game of toss-penny. These, discerning in his -presence a more exciting interest, promptly abandoned their game and ran -whooping towards him. - -Now, for the first time, Jo began to feel nervous and wish that he had -not ventured out among these barbarians unprotected. All the terrible -stories he had heard concerning the cruel treatment of his countrymen -by Americans surged into his memory and filled him with dismay. Never -before had he believed them, but now it seemed probable that some of -them might be true. - -No Chinese is a fighter, either by nature or education, and Jo was not -an exception to this rule. Thus he would have fled from his present -unhappy position had flight been possible, but it was not. He was -completely encircled by his merciless tormentors, who, as they realized -his utter helplessness, became more and more bold in their attacks. At -first they only hooted, jeered, and called him names. Then they began -to hustle and push him. At length one of them snatched off his cap and -flung it to the ground, where it was trampled underfoot and kicked from -one to another. With the loss of his cap Jo's queue was uncoiled from -about his head and dropped down his back. In this position it was caught -and jerked by one and another of the yelling mob until its wretched -owner was half crazed by pain and fright. Thus he was shoved and pulled, -spun giddily round and round, pelted with mud, and repeatedly struck -with sticks or clinched fists. His blue gown was torn in many places, -and his face was bleeding. Finally he slipped, failed in a convulsive -effort to save himself, and fell, carrying to earth with him one of the -young miscreants at whom he had clutched as he went down. - -Jo's fall was greeted by yells of delight from the imps who had caused -it, but directly their jubilations were exchanged for howls of dismay -and pain. At the critical moment an avenger had appeared among them, and -he was dealing furious blows at their unguarded bodies with a terrible, -flashing weapon, that scattered them as chaff is scattered by a fierce -wind. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -ROB TO THE RESCUE - - -Rob Hinckley had gone out early on that eventful morning for the family -milk that he fetched every day from a small farm at the lower end of -the village. His mind was full of the strange, new companion who had -come into his life the evening before; and, as he went whistling down -the street, he was planning how he should introduce him to the boys of -Hatton. He also wondered on what terms they would receive the young -foreigner, who was in every way so different from any other they ever -had met. - -"Of course, they'll treat him all right, though," reflected Rob. "They -may think him funny and laugh at him a little, to begin with; but when I -tell 'em who he is in his own country, they'll be proud enough to have -him in the school. I'll have to keep him out of sight of the muckers, -though, at any rate till he gets some civilized clothes and learns how -to wear 'em." - -Here Rob stared with a decidedly unfriendly scowl at the group of young -gamblers on the village common, across which he was walking. "Wouldn't -it just be pie for them to get hold of him, blue dress, pig-tail, and -all?" he reflected; "and wouldn't he think he'd run up against a war -party of American Indians, ready to scalp him? They won't have a chance -at him, though, not if I know it." - -Here Rob straightened himself, clinched his unoccupied hand, and held -his head higher than ever, for there is nothing that so increases one's -sense of importance as to have a weaker person dependent upon him. - -There was much bitterness of feeling existing between two classes of -Hatton boys, one of which was more or less connected with the factory, -while the other attended the academy for which the village was famous. -The latter called their enemies "muckers," and these retorted with the -term "saphead." Members of these opposed factions always exchanged -sneers and taunts upon meeting, and sometimes these led to blows that -resulted in fierce conflicts. None of these fights had taken place on -the common, however, for the village constable had declared it to be -neutral ground, and threatened with dire punishment any boy who should -break the public peace within its limits. As the constable generally was -somewhere in the vicinity of the common, ready to enforce his ruling, it -had been obeyed thus far, and both the boyish factions had used the open -space as a playground in apparent harmony. So Rob Hinckley only scowled -at the muckers, who occupied one corner of the common as he crossed it -that morning, while they, in turn, pretended ignorance of his presence. - -On his return, however, affairs had assumed a very different aspect, -and as Rob drew near the common he pricked up his ears at the sounds -that came to him from that ordinarily peaceful enclosure. "What could -they mean? Were the muckers fighting among themselves?" Rob believed -they were, and chuckled at thought of what Constable Jones would do when -he discovered them. This belief was strengthened as he came within sight -of the fracas, for at first he could only see a lot of yelling muckers, -apparently engaged in a furious struggle. Then he uttered an exclamation -of dismay, and the hot blood flew to his face. In the very centre of the -surging crowd he saw a slender, blue-clad figure, taller than any of -those swarming about it, and realized that the very thing he most had -dreaded in connection with his newly made friend from China had come to -pass. Chinese Jo, whom he had thought to be peacefully and safely asleep -in the parsonage, evidently had left it unnoticed, and at once had -fallen into the hands of the most merciless of American savages. - -With a hoarse yell of rage, and careless of what might happen to -himself, Rob sprang forward, swinging the milk-can above his head as he -ran. So busy were the tormentors of the Chinese lad with their sport -that the coming of a would-be rescuer was unnoticed until he was close -upon them. As poor Jo lost his footing and fell, Rob dashed into the -mêlée, dealing telling blows with his milk-can, and scattering the horde -of young toughs as though he had been a charge of cavalry. The stopper -flew out of the can, and its contents were flung to right and left, -impartially drenching friend and foe. Thus, for a minute, the tide of -battle flowed with the righteously wrathful Rob and against the cowardly -and unrighteous muckers. Then one of the latter, who had not yet been -reached by the deadly milk-can, and so could view the proceedings more -calmly than could his companions, shouted: - -[Illustration: "AS POOR JO LOST HIS FOOTING AND FELL, ROB DASHED INTO -THE MÊLÉE"] - -"There ain't but one saphead, fellers! Go for him! Kill him! He ain't no -good!" - -The cry was heard and obeyed. In spite of the demoralizing effects -of the milk-can, the muckers rallied, and in another moment affairs -would have gone very badly with both our lads. But providentially -sent peace-makers were at hand, and, ere the enemy could rally to an -attack, they were put to ignominious flight by overwhelming forces that -simultaneously appeared upon the field of battle from two sides. Parson -Hinckley and Constable Jones had arrived in the nick of time. - -"What is the meaning of this disgraceful exhibition, Robert?" demanded -the former, sternly, as the flight of the enemy revealed his nephew, -flushed, breathless, hatless, swinging a badly battered tin can in one -hand, and with milk streaming from every part of his figure. - -"Yes," chimed in Constable Jones, wrathfully, "what does it mean? You -can't say that you didn't know my orders again' scrimmaging on the -common; and yet here you be, caught red-handed in the very act." - -"I'd call it 'white-handed,'" replied Rob, with a grin, at the same time -holding out a grimy, milk-dripping paw. - -"I don't want no sass, young feller, but a plain statement of facts," -retorted the constable, sharply. - -"Well," replied Rob, "all I know is this: That gang of muckers were -killing my friend, just because he happens to be a Chinese, and I got -here just in time to save him." - -"Chinee, is he?" queried the constable, gazing curiously at the lad whom -Mr. Hinckley was assisting to his feet. "Looks like he'd been doing some -killing on his own hook," he added, quickly, as he caught sight of the -small mucker who had become involved in Jo's fall, and who still lay -motionless on the ground. He had been knocked breathless, but, as the -constable knelt beside him and lifted his head, the boy gasped. Then he -opened his eyes. - -"I'm kilt, and de Chink done it," he murmured, indistinctly. - -"It looks like rather a serious case, parson," said the constable, -solemnly; "more especial as there's a heathen Chinee mixed into it. I -believe it's my duty to arrest all parties concerned, and hold 'em for -examination by Square Burtis." - -"You needn't arrest these two," replied Mr. Hinckley, indicating Jo and -his nephew, "for I am just as anxious for an investigation into this -affair as you can be. It is my belief that a most wanton outrage has -been perpetrated, for which the guilty parties should be punished, and -I give you my word that both these lads shall appear with me before -Justice Burtis whenever summoned to do so." - -By this time curious spectators were beginning to gather. The dispersed -muckers, reinforced by others of their kind, were shouting taunts and -derisive epithets from a safe distance, and, rather than invite further -trouble, the constable hastily agreed to the minister's proposition. So -he departed in one direction, taking with him the small tough, and thus -diverting to himself the unpleasant attention of that element among the -rapidly increasing spectators. - -A number of those who remained walked towards the parsonage with Mr. -Hinckley and his companions, plying them with questions and gazing -curiously at the tattered young Chinese, who, frightened and unhappy, -walked silently between his friends. Realizing that this was neither the -time nor place for explanations, Rob's uncle did not demand any, but, -cautioning the boys not to talk, replied to all questions that the whole -affair would shortly be investigated in court. - -When they reached the parsonage, and Mrs. Hinckley, in the back of the -house, heard their voices, she called out: - -"Is that you, Rob? I'm glad, for I want some milk, right away." - -"Here it is, Aunt Alice," answered the boy, presenting himself with his -battered tin can, a little ruefully, but at the same time with a twinkle -in his eyes, at the kitchen door. - -"Good gracious, Rob! What has happened?" cried the astonished woman. - -"Only a little scrap, Aunt Alice, that I couldn't help getting into on -Jo's account." - -"Was that China boy mixed up in it? But, of course, he was. I've felt it -from the first that he'd make trouble." - -"But it wasn't his fault, Aunt Alice; I'm sure of that," asserted Rob, -earnestly. "He was being shamefully abused by the muckers, who came -mighty near killing him." - -The next half-hour, with breakfast entirely forgotten, was devoted to -explanations, and, by the end of that time, the whole affair was pretty -thoroughly understood. Jo's sufferings at the hands of his tormentors -had the one good effect of transforming Mrs. Hinckley's mistrust of him -into a warm sympathy that afterwards developed into a real liking for -the gentle fellow. - -A little later, while they were at breakfast, came the expected summons -for Mr. Hinckley, his nephew Robert Hinckley, and a Chinese lad known -to be an inmate of the parsonage, to appear at ten o'clock that very -morning in Justice Burtis's court-room for examination in connection -with the recent fracas on Hatton common. - -While Mr. Hinckley went to see the justice and prefer charges against -several of the young muckers, whose names had been given him by Rob, for -assaulting his ward, Joseph Lee, the two lads changed their clothing -and prepared to make a respectable appearance in court. While they -were thus engaged, Rob, to the delight of both of them, found his early -knowledge of Chinese returning to him so rapidly that he was able to -understand much of what Jo said. - -Acting on Mr. Hinckley's advice, the latter arrayed himself in his -very richest robes, and Mrs. Hinckley's sympathy so far overcame her -prejudice that, when she discovered him making a sorry attempt to do up -his queue, she offered to braid it for him. - -"To think that I ever should do such a thing!" she exclaimed. "But, Rob, -what do you suppose he wants all this white stuff worked into it for?" -she added. "I'm sure his pig-tail is long enough without it." - -The white stuff thus referred to was some strands of silk braid and a -silken tassel, and, after asking Jo concerning it, Rob explained to his -aunt that, as white is the Chinese color for mourning, their young guest -wore it in memory of his mother, who had died less than a year before. - -"Poor fellow!" said Mrs. Hinckley. "But what a very curious custom!" - -At length both lads were pronounced presentable, each according to the -fashion of his own country, and, Mr. Hinckley having returned, the whole -family set forth towards the little building in which Justice of the -Peace Burtis held court. - -"It is not of my first day the manner I had expected to spend it," Jo -confided to Rob, as they walked down the street. - -"I should say not!" replied the latter. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -A TRIUMPH FOR JO'S ENEMIES - - -The little court-room was already crowded when our party reached it, -and Jo's appearance created a sensation. The muckers and their friends, -many of whom were on hand, scowled at him, and made sneering remarks -concerning his country, his costume, and especially about his queue, -which seemed, more than anything else, to excite their animosity. On -the other hand, the better class of spectators were impressed by the -intelligence shown in the lad's face, his air of high breeding, and by -the richness of his dress, which was much handsomer than anything of the -kind ever before seen in Hatton. - -Mr. Hinckley was the first witness examined, and he told of the Chinese -lad's coming to America, and why he had done so. Then Jo himself was -called to the stand, and, with Rob acting as interpreter, he gave -his account of the recent fracas, a simple statement that drew forth -indignant murmurs from the better class of spectators. After that the -witness-stand was occupied by several of the young toughs who had -participated in the affair. Their accounts of what had happened were -confused and contradictory, but in general were to the effect that they -were only looking at the stranger who had so unexpectedly appeared, -running down the village street, and laughing a little at his pig-tail; -that he had flown into a violent rage, and had flung one of their number -to the ground, where he endeavored to choke him to death. They further -testified that while they were trying to save their comrade's life by -dragging the enraged heathen off from him, they suddenly were set upon -by Rob Hinckley, who severely beat and seriously wounded several of them -with a milk-can before they could escape from his furious and unprovoked -attack. In support of this testimony, the boy who had been involved in -Jo's fall was produced and allowed to tell his story, as were several -who bore marks of Rob's effective weapon. A statement from the constable -was then heard, and it served so to strengthen the testimony just taken -that, when Mr. Jones finished his story and an adjournment until two -o'clock was ordered, the case of our friends looked very black. Nor did -it brighten during the afternoon session, for Rob could not swear that -he had seen any specific act of violence committed by any one of those -who had surrounded the young Chinese on the common. Mr. Hinckley also -failed to help the case, for he was forced to admit that when he reached -the scene of trouble the alleged assailants of the Chinese lad were in -full flight before his nephew, and that, while they were rallying to -an attack, he did not see them commit any overt act. He also was made -to describe the relative positions of Jo and the boy who had shared -his fall, and, as his testimony on this point agreed with all that had -preceded, excepting that of Jo himself, it served still further to -strengthen the cause of the muckers. - -After this the only effort made to help what evidently was a weak case -was Mrs. Hinckley's description of Jo's appearance when he reached home, -together with her production of the tattered blue gown he had worn. Her -story seemed to produce a good effect upon the justice, until, taking -the garment into his own hands for examination, he said: - -"Madam, this coat, or dress, or whatever it may be called, seems to -be badly stained and still is damp. Can you tell me by what fluid it -has been saturated? Is it, by any chance, blood from the veins of this -Joseph Lee, and caused to flow by the ill treatment he is alleged to -have suffered?" - -"No," replied Mrs. Hinckley, shortly; "it's milk." - -This answer was greeted by a roar of laughter from the crowded -court-room, and, when quiet had with some difficulty been restored, the -justice announced his decision: - -"The examination of witnesses in this case," he said, "will proceed no -further, as the testimony already submitted is more than sufficient to -warrant me in committing the principals for trial at the next session -of the county court. Moreover, as the case has assumed an aspect so -much more serious than I had anticipated, I am obliged to bind over -Robert Hinckley and Joseph Lee in the sum of five hundred dollars each -for appearance before said court. I shall require these bonds in each -case to be signed by two responsible tax-payers of this district. If -such signatures cannot be procured, Robert Hinckley and Joseph Lee will -be confined in the county jail until the time for their trial shall -arrive. Also, pending the execution of said bonds, they are remanded to -the custody of the Hatton village constable, who is hereby charged with -their safe-keeping." - -"Whew!" ejaculated Rob under his breath. "Prisoners! Jail! In custody! -That sounds worse than any scrape I ever got into before; and what a -lovely beginning for Jo's experience of free America!" - -The decision was hailed with jubilation by the muckers and their -friends, who, as they streamed into the open air, gave vent to their -feelings through derisive yells and taunting remarks concerning -"pig-tails" and "sapheads." - -Jo, who until now had watched the proceedings with grave curiosity, -though with but slight understanding of what was taking place, was -made to realize by these sounds of rejoicing from the other side that -something had gone wrong, and he glanced inquiringly towards his friend. - -"Yes," said Rob, speaking in fragmentary but intelligible Chinese, "the -case has gone against us so far, and you and I must go to prison unless -some one will put up the money to keep us out." - -"My father is a mandarin, and can furnish enough money to buy my freedom -from any foreign prison," exclaimed Jo, with flushing cheeks. - -"Yes, of course," replied Rob; "but in this case it happens that only -American money will be accepted." - -"Then let me go to prison," said Jo, proudly, "for my father does not -choose that I should incur obligations." - -So determined was the Chinese lad upon this course that even when Mr. -Hinckley had arranged the bond business with some of his friends, and -the boys were free to depart, it was with the greatest difficulty that -he could be persuaded to leave the court-room. Only after Rob had -repeatedly assured him that Mr. Hinckley was acting as agent for his -father, who, in the end, would be called upon to meet all expenses -connected with the trial, did the proud young chap consent to accompany -his friends to their home. - -Although the case thus far seemed to have gone against our lads, it -had the good result of arousing much interest in Jo and creating many -friends for him among the best people of Hatton. Thus many times the -amount of the bonds demanded by Justice Burtis had promptly been -forth-coming the moment his decision was rendered. That evening the -parsonage was crowded with those who wished to tender sympathy and -friendship to the young stranger who had received so cruel a reception -in the land that had promised so much, and to whose honor he had so -trustingly confided. - -The young Chinese was made to feel almost happy, and much of his -homesickness vanished as Rob translated the friendly sentiments of his -visitors, and he realized that, in spite of his recent experience, -America did contain people of kindly disposition, who held honor -and fair dealing in esteem. Thus the darkness that had so heavily -overshadowed this first day in his new home was decidedly lightened -before its end; and he went to bed that night possessing a wealth of new -experience in which evil and good were very nearly balanced. - -The following day was largely devoted to procuring for Jo a complete -outfit of American clothes, and in teaching him to wear them. For a time -these rendered him very miserable. Never had his legs seemed so long or -so conspicuous as they now appeared, divested of skirts and encased in -trousers. Never before had he worn garments fitting him so closely that -he doubted if they would allow him to eat enough to satisfy his hunger, -and he was surprised to find that he still could draw a full breath. He -was amazed at the number of pockets they contained, since never, until -now, had he possessed even one, and he wondered what he should find to -put in them. He approved of a hat that shaded his eyes, but felt most -noisy and uncomfortable in the harsh leather shoes that replaced his own -of cloth. - -But all these troubles were insignificant when compared with the great -grief that came to him that same day. It was nothing more nor less -than the loss of his cherished queue, which both Mr. Hinckley and Rob -advised, and almost insisted, should be cut off. - -"It is the distinguishing mark of my nationality," he pleaded, "and -without it people might take me for a Japanese, or even for a Korean. -Also, it is a symbol of loyalty to my emperor, for in China every man -without a queue is regarded as a rebel, and is liable to lose his head. -Without it I should feel ashamed to look my friends in the face. No, I -cannot give it up!" - -When all this was interpreted to Mr. Hinckley, he replied: - -"Tell him that, while I realize the force of what he says, I still must -urge him to make the sacrifice. After all, the wearing of the queue is -comparatively recent in China. Jo's ancestors of less than three hundred -years ago did not wear them; nor did they shave their heads, that custom -being forced upon them by their Manchu, or Tartar, conquerors, early -in the seventeenth century. The latter wore the queue, or horse-tail, -depending from their heads, and long coat-sleeves, shaped at the end -like horses' hoofs, to show that they were horsemen; and when they -conquered China they compelled their new subjects to adopt both these -features. Now, as Jo says, to discard the queue in China is a sign of -rebellion against the government; but it cannot be so considered when a -Chinese is in a foreign land, and subject to great inconvenience, not -to say danger, if he does not conform to the customs of the country in -which he resides. Here, for instance, if Jo persists in wearing his -queue with an American costume, it will render him very conspicuous and -liable to constant ridicule, if not insult and abuse, from ignorant -or vicious members of the community, while without it he rarely will -attract unusual attention. When he is ready to return to his own land, -he again can allow it to grow, and can supplement it with a false braid -until it shall have attained a suitable length. Many Americans residing -in China have adopted the native costume, including the queue, in order -to render themselves inconspicuous; and why should not the process be -reversed by Chinese residing in this country?" - -These arguments finally so prevailed that poor Jo, with a heavy heart -and tear-filled eyes, allowed the shears to despoil him of what he -considered his chief and most becoming adornment. As the heavy braid of -glossy hair was severed he exclaimed: - -"Now even my own father would not know me, and my wife would no longer -render me obedience!" - -"Your wife!" cried Rob. "What _do_ you mean? You can't have a wife! Why, -you aren't any older than I am." - -"Certainly, I have a wife," replied Jo, composedly. "We were selected -for each other when I was ten years of age; and, as my father wanted a -person to look after his house, we were married the day before I left -home." - -"But she must be a little girl," objected Rob. - -"Oh no. She is older than I, and quite grown up." - -"Is she pretty?" persisted the other, curiously, "and are you very fond -of her?" - -"No, I am not fond of her at all; for, you see, I don't know her; and -I don't think she even is good-looking. Of course I can't tell, though, -for I have seen her only once, and then her face was so hidden by the -wedding-paint that I have no idea how she would look without it." - -"Well!" exclaimed Rob; "you Chinese certainly are funny!" - - - - -CHAPTER V - -THREATENED VIOLENCE - - -The next two months passed quickly, and were full of interesting -happenings for our lads. Although the academy was closed, and many of -its students were away for the summer, there were a number of Rob's -friends left in Hatton, and these promptly taking Jo's side as against -the muckers, became his friends as well. In fact, it is doubtful if -anything could have advanced him so speedily in the estimation of the -better class of Hatton boys than his ill treatment at the hands of their -avowed enemies. It alone was sufficient to induce them to make much of -him from the outset; but in a very short time they learned to like him -for his own good qualities. - -He always was a gentleman, polite, courteously attentive when spoken -to, and invariably good-natured. Then, too, his taper fingers were -marvellously deft in making things out of paper, wood, or clay, such as -dragons looking fierce enough to eat one, puzzles at once simple and -baffling, flutelike whistles, and other instruments for the production -of sounds more or less musical. He also constructed innumerable kites of -grotesque animal forms, and he always was willing to show his boyish -friends just how these wonders were produced. - -They, in turn, taught him the things known almost instinctively by -every American boy, and especially by those who live in the country, -but of which our Chinese lad had no knowledge--such as swimming, -boxing, rowing, how to camp out like Indians, and, above all, how to -play the distinctively American game of baseball. To these fascinating -novelties Jo took as readily as a young duck takes to water; for, with -his hair cut short, instead of hanging in a braid down his back, and -with a radical change of apparel, his whole character seemed to have -undergone a transformation, and he now entered as heartily into the -rough-and-tumble sports of his new associates as though to the manner -born. To be sure, he was ridiculously awkward at first, and made such -funny breaks as to excite the uproarious mirth of the other fellows; but -he didn't seem to mind this a bit, and always joined heartily in a laugh -at his own expense. - -The thing they teased him most about was his wife, for the fact of his -being married had seemed too good a joke for Rob to keep to himself. -Even this, however, did not appear to annoy the young husband, for a -Chinese marriage is so entirely different from one in America that there -is no trace of sentiment connected with it. The most important feature -of Chinese life is the worship of one's ancestors, and this worship may -only properly be performed by the head of a family. Thus, to provide for -the suitable worship of their own spirits, in case of untimely death, -parents are anxious to have their sons married as early in life as is -possible. Such marriages are purely business transactions, arranged by -the elders, and with which the young people have nothing to do except to -be on hand at the appointed time. Even this is not essential in the case -of the bridegroom, so long as the bride is delivered, as per agreement, -at his father's house. He may be on a journey, or undergoing a scholar's -examination, or engaged in some other important business that may not -be interrupted for so trifling an incident as his wedding, which, -therefore, is allowed to proceed without him. As he never is permitted -to see his future wife or to learn anything concerning her during their -betrothal, he cannot be expected to take a great personal interest in -her, or she in him. Thus it happened that Jo was quite as willing to -accept, good-naturedly, teasing remarks concerning his marriage as he -was those called forth by any other customs of his people that struck -his new companions as ridiculous. - -He had one possession that excited their sincere admiration, not to say -their envy, and this was a wonderful memory. Having been trained from -earliest childhood to commit to memory columns and pages of Chinese -characters, and not only pages but entire volumes of the Chinese -classics, our young scholar now took up the acquisition of English as a -mere pastime. The alphabet was conquered in a single day; several pages -of short words, together with their meanings, in another; and by the -end of a week he was reading easy sentences. Rob was his first teacher, -and, of course, his knowledge of Chinese was of the greatest assistance -to Jo in gaining the meanings of the English words that he so readily -learned to recognize by sight and sound. - -Thus it happened that when the time arrived for his trial in the county -court he was able to give his own version of the fracas on Hatton common -in intelligible English without the aid of an interpreter. - -In spite of the fact that Mr. Hinckley had employed able counsel to -defend the boys, the case was decided against them, and they were -sentenced to pay heavy fines in addition to the costs of the trial. - -"It is an outrageous and unjust decision," said Mr. Hinckley to his -lawyer, "and I will never submit to it so long as there is a higher -court to which the case may be taken. I desire, therefore, that you move -for an appeal, and continue to give it your most earnest attention." - -"Very well, sir," was the reply; "of course, I will do so; but I must -warn you that there is little hope of such a suit as yours being won in -any American court. It is prejudiced from the outset by the existing -strong feeling against the Chinese. For them it is almost impossible to -obtain justice, even with the bulk of evidence in their favor, which, in -the present instance, even you must admit is not the case." - -In spite of what the lawyer said, Mr. Hinckley was determined to carry -the contest to a higher court, and, the motion for an appeal being -granted, the case of State _vs._ Joseph Lee _et al._ was carried to a -superior court, in which the earliest date set for a hearing was four -months from that time. - -In the mean time the muckers of Hatton and their friends were wildly -jubilant over the victory already gained. During the evening of the -day on which the decision of the county court had been rendered, they -gathered about a great bonfire at the lower end of the village, where -they listened to incendiary speeches against the Chinese and all who -befriended them. These were received with yells of applause and ominous -threats of violence. - -While this was going on at one end of the village, a number of Mr. -Hinckley's friends were discussing the situation in the parsonage at -the other. All at once Rob, who had been doing some scouting on his own -responsibility, broke into the room where these gentlemen were sitting. - -"They're coming, Uncle Will!" he cried, breathlessly, "and they swear -they'll run Jo out of the village. They are talking about tar and -feathers, too." - -Mr. Hinckley sprang to his feet. "My friends," he said, "if you will -stand by me in this emergency I think the evil may be averted; but -if you cannot see your way to so doing, I must hasten to remove the -innocent lad committed to my charge beyond the reach of danger. What do -you say? Speak quick, for there is not a moment to lose." - -"We will stand by you," replied one and another, "and there are plenty -more who will do so, too. Our village must not be disgraced by scenes of -lawless violence." - -"Then," said Mr. Hinckley, "hasten and gather the neighbors. Let each -man be back here within five minutes, bringing another with him. I will -try to find Constable Jones, and urge him--" - -"Here I be, parson," interrupted a voice from the doorway, "and I've -telegraphed the sheriff that there's a show for trouble. He's answered -that he'll be here inside of an hour, and for us to try and keep 'em -entertained till he comes." - -"Good!" exclaimed Mr. Hinckley. "I rather think we can." - -Five minutes later, when a noisy throng of men and boys came surging up -the street, the lower part of the parsonage, opposite which they halted, -was so brilliantly lighted that they could see a numerous company of -gentlemen assembled inside. They barely had time to realize that the -house thus was occupied, when, suddenly, every light was extinguished -and it stood in silent darkness. For a moment the new-comers, just now -so valiantly loud-mouthed, waited in silence to see what would happen -next. Then they began to murmur, and the murmurs grew into shouts of: - -"Fetch out your Chinee!" - -"We'll teach him English!" - -"Down with the rat-eaters!" and a confusion of other cries, at once -derisive and threatening. - -As the mob, inflamed by these utterances, and urged on by its -self-constituted leaders, crowded about the entrance to the front yard, -it was met by Constable Jones, who leaned negligently against one of the -gate-posts. - -"Hello!" he exclaimed. "What do you fellows want here?" - -"We want to see Parson Hinckley," answered a spokesman. - -"Well, you'll have to call again to-morrow, or some other day, for he's -busy just now and can't see you." - -"Oh, he carn't, carn't he? I rather guess he'll see us before we git -ready to leave. Come on, fellers!" - -"Stand back!" shouted the constable as the crowd surged towards the -gate. "I have instructions from the owner of these premises not to admit -any one to them this night. As this is private property, and I'm bound -to protect the owner in his rights, the first man attempting to enter -will be arrested for trespass." - -This announcement was greeted with howls of derision, and it seemed -as though Constable Jones was about to have on his hands the job of -arresting the entire mob, when another halt was called by the voice of -Mr. Hinckley, who came from the house to the front gate as though to -investigate the trouble. - -"What is going on here, Constable Jones? Who are these people, and what -do they want?" he asked, loud enough for all to hear. - -"Want to see you, parson; so they say." - -"Well, my friends, what is it? I am too busy for an extended -conversation; but if you can tell me in a few words what you desire, I -am ready to listen." - -"Yes, we can," answered one of the leaders, gruffly. "We want the -murdering, heathen Chinee that you're a-keeping in your house agin the -law. We're agoin' to have him, too, an' run him out er town." - -"Against the law!" repeated Mr. Hinckley. "What do you mean? I am not -harboring any person against the law, that I know of." - -"Yes, you be, fer the law says all Chinesesers must be excluded, and -we're going to enforce it, by excluding the one you've brought to Hatton -in spite of the law." - -For ten minutes Mr. Hinckley held the crowd at bay by his arguments, -and his exhortations not to disgrace themselves, their State, and their -country, by committing an act of lawless violence; but finally they -would listen to him no longer, and again a rush was made for the gate. - -This time it was checked by a new voice, the stern tones of which were -well known to all of them, for it belonged to the owner of the great -shops in which so many of them earned their daily bread. "Hold on, men!" -he cried, "and listen to me. I don't think I need tell you who I am, -or that I will do as I say, for you all know me, and you know that I -never yet broke a promise. For many years you and I have lived in this -village of Hatton. In all that time we have carried on business together -in orderly fashion, to my satisfaction, and, I hope, to yours. We have -had differences, but always have managed to settle them without calling -in outside aid. Now, however, you are threatening me, as well as this -entire community, with something to which I cannot and will not submit. -You are threatening this village with mob rule, a condition under which -no community can exist and no business can be conducted. Therefore I -give you my solemn word that if a single act of lawless violence against -life or property is committed this night by a man or woman, boy or -girl employed in the Hatton shops, those same shops shall be closed -to-morrow, never to be reopened." - -"That's all bluff!" cried a voice from the crowd, as the speaker uttered -this threat. - -"What do we care fer him or fer his talk?" demanded one who had -constituted himself a leader. "There's a-plenty of us here as don't work -in his shops to see this business through; so come on, lads, and don't -fool away any more time talking. Hurray for American rights, and down -with all Chinese scabs!" - -At this the mob uttered a howl and leaped forward, not only putting to -flight the little group holding the parsonage gate, but tearing down the -fence and swarming up to the very door of the house. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -THE SHERIFF TAKES PROMPT MEASURES - - -Sheriff Hardy, of Hat County, was a fearlessly resolute man, possessed -of great bodily strength and of a coolness in times of excitement that -admirably fitted him for his difficult position, and he had constant -need to exercise all these qualities, for his was a manufacturing -county, having a large population of recently Americanized foreigners, -who held in scant respect laws not enforced by a military power always -in evidence. - -On the evening of the trouble in Hatton, Constable Jones's message -found the sheriff quietly smoking a cigar on the porch of his house at -the county seat, some miles from the place where his presence was so -urgently required. Two minutes later he was on horseback and galloping -towards the scene of disturbance. Reaching the Hatton parsonage within -half an hour, he entered it by a back door, and at once swore in as -special deputies the gentlemen whom he found there assembled, and -undecided, not having authority, as to how they should act in the -present emergency. Then Sheriff Hardy stepped to the front porch, took a -survey of the situation, and for a minute listened to the significant -interchange of remarks between the owner of the shops and the leaders of -the mob. - -He was there when the crowd tore down the fence and made their rush -towards the house. Until this moment they had not suspected his -presence, but now, at the sound of his sharp "Halt!" their advance was -checked as effectually as though it had encountered a twenty-foot stone -wall. - -"Stand where you are!" he commanded. "Any man who advances so much as a -single step farther will be arrested. I am not going to ask what you are -doing here, nor the meaning of this cowardly demonstration against the -peace. I already have heard enough to fully understand the situation. -You are proposing to injure and otherwise abuse a person who is legally -an inmate of this house." - -"He's a heathen Chinee," muttered some one in the crowd. - -"I don't care if he's a blue monkey," replied the sheriff, sharply, -"so long as he is here with the sanction of the law, he is entitled to -legal protection, and he is going to have it, too, just so long as I am -sheriff of Hat County. Some of you Dagoes seem to think there isn't any -law in this country, but I'll teach you that there is plenty of law, -with ample provision for enforcing it. Now I've wasted all the time I -mean to on you, and school is dismissed; so, 'bout face, and clear out -of here. You want to be spry, too, for in just one minute I am going to -march down that street with a posse of armed deputies, sworn to obey -orders, and ordered to arrest any anarchist who attempts to obstruct -their passage. I may add that they can shoot, too; and, if necessary, -will shoot. That's all." - -As the mob, breaking into angry murmurs, still hesitated to move, -Sheriff Hardy called out, so that all might hear: - -"Posse, attention! Fall in! Come on!" - -Then, as the tramp of many feet sounded on the porch, he leaped from -it, and his impatient followers sprang after him. The next minute they -were charging down the main street behind a panic-stricken mob in full -flight, and Hatton's short-lived reign of terror was ended. - -After this, Mr. Hinckley, acting upon the sheriff's advice, which -coincided with his own inclination, did not seek to secure Jo's safety -by sending him away from Hatton, but kept him there in attendance at the -academy, where the other fellows, under Rob's leadership, acted as a -body-guard for his protection. - -"It is too bad that I make so much bobble," said the Chinese lad to his -friend one day. "Mebbe better if I go my own country." - -"Oh, rot!" replied Rob, who at times found difficulty in expressing his -feelings other than by the use of slang. "It would just be pie for the -muckers to have you cut away, and they would claim game on the strength -of it. As for you making trouble, I call it fun, and so do the other -fellows. Why, I've never known so much life in the academy as has been -put into it by your coming. Same time, you can't say you aren't getting -good by being here, for I never heard of anybody learning as fast as -you do. I'm not the only one that's on to it, either; for I heard old -Puff--excuse me, I mean Professor Puffer--say the same thing only -yesterday. Besides, you couldn't go away till after our trial, anyhow, -for we are under bonds to appear, and it would simply mean ruin to Uncle -Will if you didn't show up." - -"That tlial," answered Jo, who had not yet fully conquered the -difficulty encountered by all Chinese who come into contact with the -letter _r_, "makes for me much bitterness and plenty 'fraid. In my -country we say, 'Better it is to die than go in law-suit.'" - -"Oh, pshaw!" answered Rob. "It isn't that way in America. Everybody here -seems to get mixed up in some sort of a law-suit sooner or later, and -not worry much about it, either. As for ours, it'll come out all right; -you see if it don't. I'm not fretting." - -When, in the early winter, the eventful day set for the trial of the now -famous case of State _vs._ Joseph Lee _et al._ arrived, it seemed as -though half Hatton was determined to be on hand. Court was held in the -city of S----, distant only an hour's ride by train, so that the Hatton -spectators were able to go and return the same day. - -Owing to the dragging length of the preceding case on the calendar, -that of our lads was not called on the first day of their appearance, -and they were forced to spend the night in a hotel, guarded by a -deputy. In this same hotel stayed the father of the young tough who -had incidentally been thrown to the ground with Jo during the long-ago -fracas that began all this trouble. When our lads, accompanied by their -guard, went down to supper, this man, together with another, sat where -he could see them, and, pointing to Jo, he said, viciously, but in a low -tone: - -"That's him, and we'll make it worth your while to fix him." - -"That well-dressed young fellow?" questioned the other, in a tone of -surprise. "He don't look any more like a Chinee than he does like a -Dago, and if you hadn't told me, I wouldn't have suspected it." - -"No, they've trimmed him up to look almost civilized; but I wisht you'd -seen him when the fuss took place. He sure was a savage-appearing -heathen then." - -"Um," said the other, meditatively; "changed his description, have they? -Well, if you can make it worth while, I'll see what can be done." - -To the dismay of our lads and their friends, the trial, which occupied -the whole of the following day, was, in spite of the efforts of their -lawyer, but a repetition of the first one. Much additional testimony was -presented by the State, but nothing new had been forth-coming in their -behalf. So late in the day was the case closed that the judge withheld -his decision until the next morning; but no one had a doubt as to its -nature, and the muckers of Hatton held another jubilation that night -with bonfires and much noise. - -Full accounts of the trial appeared in the morning papers, and our -friends read these with heavy hearts. - -"Looks as though we stood a good chance of going to prison," remarked -Rob, gloomily. "It'll either be that or a whopping big fine that, I'm -afraid, Uncle Will can't raise. Maybe it'll be both." - -"If my father were only here," said Jo, "he would make things all right -quick enough, by giving that mandarin judge much money." - -"Oh, would he?" replied Rob. "That's all you know about American judges. -Such a scheme might work in China, but if your father should try it on -here he would be pretty apt to land himself in prison, alongside of -his son, and that son's 'accomplice,' as the papers now call me. We -Americans are a pretty tough lot, I'll admit, and our laws don't seem to -have much to do with justice, but I don't believe we've yet come to the -point of bribing our judges--that is, not to any great extent." - -"But, Rob, my friend, it is for you that my heart is aching. For me -it makes no difference. When I am again free I will go back to my own -country as a hero, whose bad treatment here will only make my people -hate foreigners more than ever. But for you it will mean shame and much -sorrow, all caused by me." - -"Now, don't you fret a little bit about that, old man," replied Rob, -stoutly. "There is no danger of me being disgraced by going to prison in -a good cause, in the eyes of any one whose opinion is worth anything. -I tell you, honestly, that, so long as you are in this scrape, I'm glad -to be in it with you; for it will show that if Americans are sometimes -unjust, it is not only to foreigners, but to their own people as well." - -So greatly was interest in the case stimulated by the published reports -that, on the second day of the trial, the court-room was crowded with -spectators. Most of these were hostile in sentiment to our lads and -were anxious to hear sentence pronounced, not only upon the Chinese, -who had dared assault an American, but upon the white lad who had -proved a traitor to his own people by assisting in the outrage. Another -attraction in the court-room that morning was a Chinese gentleman, -richly clad in his national costume, who entered with the judge, and -was accorded the honor of a seat on the bench. He was secretary to -the Chinese legation at Washington, hurriedly sent on by his chief to -inquire into this case and do everything possible for the relief of -his young countryman. Even after entering the court-room he continued -to speak to the judge; but the face of the latter remained sternly -impassive, as though, having made up his mind, nothing could change it. - -When our lads were led to their seats they could nowhere see the lawyer -who was defending them, and they wondered at his absence; but he -appeared and took his place with other members of the bar just as court -was opening. He had no opportunity for communicating with them at that -moment, but he beamed upon them with a smiling countenance, for which -they could not account. - -"Looks like a man grinning at his own funeral," whispered Rob to his -friend, who wondered how such a thing might be possible. - -In another moment, however, his attention was drawn from this puzzle by -the opening of court, and by seeing their counsel rise to his feet. - -"Your honor," said this gentleman, addressing the judge, "I beg leave to -petition that the case of State _vs._ Joseph Lee _et al._, concluded in -this court yesterday, be reopened for the admission of new and important -testimony in behalf of the defence. Only this morning has a witness been -discovered whose story will, I believe, completely reverse all previous -impressions gained during this momentous trial. In view of that fact -we earnestly pray that you will permit us to place this person on the -stand." - -After listening to a demur from the district attorney, the court granted -this petition and reopened the case, whereupon the counsel for the -defence summoned to the witness-stand Miss Annabel Lorimer. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -THE SENTENCE OF THE COURT - - -As the court-crier, amid a breathless hush of expectation, loudly called -the name "Annabel Lorimer," a young girl, flushed with embarrassment, -but with brave, gray eyes, rose from a seat in the front row of -spectators and was escorted to the witness-stand by a gentleman, -who evidently was her father, and who remained near her during the -examination that followed. After she had sworn to tell the truth, the -whole truth, and nothing but the truth, had given her name, her place of -residence as that very city, and had blushingly admitted that, although -fifteen years of age, she was unmarried, she was asked to tell what she -knew of the case now on trial. - -"We were going to Canada for the summer," she began, "so as to learn how -to travel and get ready for the great journey around the world that papa -and I are going to take this winter. So I went to Hatton to say good-bye -to my aunt Marjorie, who lives in a big, white house, just across from -the common. I could only stay one night, and had to leave on the very -earliest morning train. So I was up pretty early, and was dressing to -go down-stairs, when such shouting and laughing came from the street -that I looked out of the window. There were a lot of boys, all running, -and one of them was a Chinese. I never saw one before, but I knew he was -Chinese by his pig-tail and by his funny shoes, that were just like the -pictures." - -"Can you tell how he was dressed?" asked Jo's lawyer. - -"Yes, he had on a long, blue frock, without any waist-band." - -"Like this?" suggested the lawyer, at the same time holding up the very -gown Jo had worn on that eventful morning. - -"Yes, just the same; only at first it wasn't torn." - -"Thank you. Now you may proceed with your story." - -"Well, while I was looking I saw that the other boys were teasing the -Chinese boy, which seemed to me dreadfully mean, when he was all alone -in a strange place, especially when he stood still and began to look -frightened. Then some more big boys, who had been playing on the common, -came running over, and they all crowded around the Chinese boy and began -to abuse him." - -"What do you mean by abusing him? What did they do?" - -"Why, they hit him, and pushed him from one side to the other, and -pulled at his pig-tail, and ran round and round with it so as to make -him turn and get dizzy, and knocked off his cap, and did everything -horrid they could think of." - -"What kind of boys were they?" - -"Just the very kind that tie fire-crackers to poor dogs' tails, and kill -pussy-cats with stones, and--swear." - -This last word the witness uttered with some hesitation and in a low -tone. - -"Would you know any of those boys again if you should see them?" - -"Yes, I'd know the two I see sitting over there," replied Annabel, at -the same time pointing to a group of the Hatton muckers who had been -retained in court as witnesses. - -"How can you identify them?" - -"Because the little one has such very red hair, and so many freckles, -and the other is so big and ugly looking; besides, he is the one who -knocked the Chinese boy down." - -"How did he do that?" - -"He butted him in the back with his head, while the little, speckled one -was pulling at his pig-tail in front, and they all went down together." - -"Now tell me, Miss Lorimer, what the Chinese boy did all this time? Was -he very fierce, and did he strike at his assailants as if he were trying -to kill them?" - -"Oh no, indeed! I'm sure he didn't, because I hoped all the time he -would. He only seemed horribly frightened, and kept trying to get away; -only they wouldn't let him." - -"Did you see any of the other boys throw anything at him?" - -"Yes, mud--lots of it--and stones; and they tore his clothes until he -was a sight." - -"Please tell the court what happened after the Chinese boy had been -knocked down." - -"I object to that expression," interposed the district attorney, who was -conducting the case for the State; "the witness has expressly stated -that the fall in question was caused by a push and not by a blow. She -also has testified that three individuals went to the ground at the same -time, and we already know from recorded testimony in this case, that the -greatest sufferer from the effects of this fall was not the Chinaman, -but the very smallest and weakest of those whom my learned friend is -pleased to stigmatize as 'assailants,' although it has been repeatedly -and conclusively proved during this trial that they were the assailed. -Therefore I object to the expression 'knocked down.'" - -"Objection admitted," growled the judge. - -"Very well," said Jo's lawyer, "since the expression 'knocked down' is -objectionable, it is withdrawn; and you may tell us, Miss Lorimer, what -happened after my young client was hurled to the ground." - -"Your honor, I object," broke in the district attorney. - -"Objection overruled," said the judge, sharply, "and I insist that the -testimony of this young lady must not be interrupted by squabbles over -technicalities." - -"After my young client was _hurled to the ground_," continued Jo's -lawyer, triumphantly, "with the biggest and ugliest-looking of his -assailants on top of him, tell us, Miss Lorimer, what happened next?" - -"The big boy scrambled to his feet, and just then Rob Hinckley came -along with a milk-can and drove them all away, and the milk flew all -over everybody. Then Mr. Hinckley and Constable Jones came; but after -that I didn't see any more, because the breakfast-bell rang, and I was -so late that I had to get dressed as quick as I could." - -"That is all, your honor, and the other side is welcome to our witness," -said Jo's lawyer. - -"Why did you not come forward sooner to testify in this case, Miss -Lorimer, since you seem so greatly interested in it?" queried the -district attorney. - -"Because I didn't know anything about it until this morning. Then papa -read about it in the paper, and said he had no doubt that if the truth -were known it would turn out that the Chinese boy had been wantonly -abused by a lot of cowardly young ruffians, just because he was weak -and helpless, which was getting more and more to be the American way -of doing things. I didn't like to hear him say that, and told him I -believed I had seen that very trouble the morning I was in Hatton; only -I had forgotten all about it, because so many other things began to -happen that same day, and have been happening ever since. I said, if -those were the same boys, they were not real, true Americans at all, but -just a lot of mean imitations, and if the law people only knew what I -did, they would punish them instead of Rob Hinckley, and the Chinese -boy who had been abused. He asked what I meant, and I told him all I -could remember. Then he telephoned to that gentleman (pointing to Jo's -lawyer), who came to the house and asked me questions. Then we drove -here in a carriage, because it was late. So if you punish anybody, I -hope it will be those wicked imitation American boys; because one time -that big, ugly looking one set his dog on my tortoise-shell kitty when -we were visiting Aunt Marjorie, and threw stones at her when she ran up -a tree, and would have killed her if Rob Hinckley hadn't made him stop." - -"So you already were prejudiced against the boy, whom you describe as -'ugly looking,' before you saw him in collision with this Chinaman." - -"I don't know what you mean," replied Annabel; "but, of course, I hated -him, and knew just what he would do when he found a China-boy, or any -one else he could abuse without a chance of getting hurt himself. He did -it, too, and now I hope he'll be shut up in prison forever and ever." - -"Your honor," said the district attorney, with a well-satisfied smile; -"I think the animus of this witness is sufficiently shown by that -statement, which I shall allow to go on record without comment. I -shall also pass, without attempt at refutation, her silly naming of -those naturalized citizens, who, with their brawn and muscle, their -unremitting industry and their sturdy independence, constitute the -strongest bulwark of our glorious republic, for she is but a child, -speaking from the ignorance of childhood. Thus we are well content to -rest our case upon the evidence, with a certain confidence that the -court, in its wisdom, will give us a verdict in accordance with the -facts." - -With this the attorney sat down. The girl witness, wondering whether she -had most helped or harmed the cause she had espoused, was allowed to -take her seat, and Jo's lawyer rose to address the court. - -"Your honor," he said, "I need not suggest to one so well versed -in proverbial philosophy, that truth, sometimes unpalatable, but -always bluntly outspoken, is a universally admitted characteristic of -childhood. Into the dark mazes of numberless famous law cases, as in the -one we now are concluding, has the revealing light of truth been thrown -by the untutored testimony of children. I could not wish a stronger -witness to the justice of our cause than the fearless little lady who -has just now given her evidence in our behalf. Upon it, therefore, we -confidently rest our cause, with a well-grounded conviction that it is -sufficient to assure a verdict in our favor." - -As the lawyer sat down, our lads realized that the critical moment -in which their fate was to be decided had arrived; and they awaited -the words of the judge with mingled hope and anxiety. For a moment an -impressive silence reigned in the court-room, and all eyes were turned -upon the judge as he glanced over his pencilled notes. Finally he looked -up, removed his spectacles, and, fixing a kindly gaze upon the two -young men, said: - -"It is hardly necessary to state that the unimpeachable testimony of -the last witness in the case of State _vs._ Joseph Lee _et al._ has -completely altered the point of view from which it must be regarded, -and causes the decision of the court to be quite different from what -it would have been yesterday. I now find the defendant, Joseph Lee, -to have been a victim instead of an aggressor, and to have suffered -shameful persecution at the hands of a mob of young ruffians, who have -been happily termed 'imitation Americans.' This term is most soothing -to the pride of all real Americans, who are unwilling to believe that -any of the true stock would dishonor the name by assaulting the helpless -and innocent. This being the situation, the decision of the court in -the case of Joseph Lee is that he be honorably acquitted of the charges -brought against him." - -This decision was received with looks of scowling consternation by the -muckers present, and with murmurs of applause from the better class of -spectators. This quickly was silenced by the court officers, and the -judge continued: - -"The case of Robert Hinckley, however, proves more serious, since it -is evident that he did make an assault with a weapon, and without the -excuse of self-defence, upon the bodies of certain persons named in -the indictment, who are entitled to legal redress for the same. Of -this offence the court, therefore, finds Robert Hinckley guilty and -sentences him"--at this point poor Rob turned very pale, while his -heart sank like lead--"to pay a fine," continued the judge, "of one cent -to each and every one of the aggrieved parties whose names appear in the -indictment. At the same time the court wishes to express its thanks to -Mr. Robert Hinckley for the fine manner in which, forgetful of his own -danger, he hastened to defend a helpless foreigner from persecution by a -set of unmitigated young scoundrels. Officer, call the next case on the -calendar." - -"Oh!" gasped Rob, as the friends of our lads gathered about them with -congratulations at this happy ending of their troubles; "does he really -mean it?" - -"Yes," replied the lawyer who had defended them, "he really means it, -and if you haven't two cents in your pocket, I'll pay the fine myself." - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -JO'S ENEMIES PREPARE A TRAP - - -After the happy conclusion of the law-suit that had for so long -disturbed their peace of mind, our lads left the court-room in company -with a group of congratulatory friends. As they went out, Rob exclaimed, -triumphantly, "I told you not to fret, Jo, and that everything would -turn out all right." - -"Yes, but it is through the goodness of Miss Lolimer." - -"Who?" inquired Rob, with a puzzled expression. "Oh, you mean Annabel! -Yes, isn't she fine? I say, Annabel, I don't know how we ever can thank -you enough for getting us out of that scrape. It was one of the most -plucky things I ever knew a girl to do." - -"It wasn't half so plucky as the way you saved my 'turtle kitty' that -time; besides, I was so sorry for your friend, though I didn't know he -was your friend then." - -"That's so. I forgot. Let me introduce him. Annabel--I mean Miss -Lorimer--this is my friend, Joseph Lee, from China, only all the fellows -call him Chinese Jo." - -"I'm ever so glad to know you, Mr. Lee," said the girl, at the same -time making a prim little bow that was half curtsey. "I never met a -Chinese boy before, and I think they are awfully interesting. I mean," -she added, quickly, and with a deep blush, "that we are going to China -sometime, papa and I, and we want so much to know about the queer people -out there. Not, of course, that you seem queer, because you are dressed -in civilized--Oh, dear, what a stupid I am! But won't both of you come -to our house for luncheon? Papa said I might ask you, and he is going to -invite Mr. Hinckley and that Chinese gentleman who sat with the judge. -Wasn't he perfectly splendid? Of course, I mean the judge, though the -other is lovely, too, in his beautiful clothes." - -"My dear," interrupted Mr. Lorimer, "this is Mr. Secretary of Legation -Wang, who, together with Mr. Hinckley and, I trust, these young -gentlemen, will lunch with us." - -Mr. Wang, who, being a graduate of Yale, was quite accustomed to -American ways, gravely shook hands with Annabel, as he also did with -Rob; but his exchange of greetings with his own young countryman was -quite different. Instead of shaking each other's hand and saying "How -do you do, Mr. Wang? Happy to meet you, Mr. Lee," as is the American -custom, they bowed profoundly to each other several times, all the while -clasping and shaking their own hands and uttering flowery compliments in -Chinese. - -"How funny to shake one's own hand!" laughed Annabel, as she watched -with delight this novel interchange of courtesies. - -"It does not seem funny in our country, Miss Lorimer," said Mr. Wang, -who had overheard the remark. "There all gentlemen, and ladies as well, -wear their finger-nails so long that there would be danger of cutting, -or at least scratching, each other's hands if they should exchange the -courteous salute in the American way. So we shake our own hands, to -avoid injuring those of our friends." - -"But why do you wear your finger-nails so long?" asked Annabel. "I -should think it would be very uncomfortable, and that they would get -broken." - -"It is an uncomfortable fashion, and a very silly one," replied Mr. -Wang. "The long nails are so apt to get broken, as you suggest, that -they often are protected by silver sheaths. The reason they are allowed -to grow long is to show that their wearers are not obliged to labor with -their hands. Chinese ladies for the same reason, or rather to show that -they are not obliged to walk, but can afford to be carried about by -servants, compress their feet until they are hopelessly and very nearly -helplessly crippled for life." - -"How dreadful!" exclaimed Annabel. - -"Yes. Is it not? But is it any more dreadful than certain things done -at fashion's decree in your own country? For instance, in Washington -I often see ladies dancing, or shivering through long dinners, in -low-necked and sleeveless gowns, which at the same time are so tightly -compressed at the waist as to cause present torture and future misery. -I see fashionable men dressed in exact imitation of their own servants, -and only to be distinguished from them by a round bit of glass worn with -much effort, and with absurd distortions of the face, in front of the -right eye--not at all to aid the sight, mind you, but simply because -it is fashionable. Yes, both our nations are guilty of following many -absurd fashions, and each laughs at the other on account of them; but -to my mind the most foolish habit of all is for us to call each other -'barbarians' because our fashions in silliness happen to differ." - -In all this Annabel was so interested that the lunch-time conversation -was wholly turned upon Chinese topics, with the result that Mr. Wang -proved himself not only to be highly educated, widely travelled, and -liberal-minded, but one of the most entertaining conversationalists -any of them ever had met. So impressed were his hearers by what this -versatile Chinese gentleman told them, that when the luncheon was ended -Annabel regarded herself as one of the most fortunate girls in the world -because of her prospect of going to China; Mr. Lorimer was thinking of -the same country as probably the most interesting place they should -visit during their travels; Mr. Hinckley found his views on the Chinese -question greatly changed; Rob longed to get back to the land of his -birth, and Jo was decidedly homesick. - -For these reasons the Lorimers were pleased to learn that Mr. Wang -proposed to remain in their city a day or two longer, while Mr. -Hinckley was anxious to reach home and his own library, where he might -quietly review his newly received impressions. Rob was equally desirous -of returning to Hatton and the lessons that must be learned before he -could hope to revisit China, while Jo was made happy by an invitation -from Mr. Wang to remain with him during his stay in S---- and greet -the other young Chinese then being educated in that vicinity, whom the -secretary had invited to dine with him that very night. - -Mr. Hinckley was more than willing that Jo should accept the invitation, -and remain away from Hatton for a few days on account of the bitterness -of feeling against him that the decision of the court was certain -to have strengthened. So Jo remained behind when the Hinckleys took -their departure, and that evening, passed in company with Mr. Wang -and a dozen companions of his own nationality, was the very happiest -he ever had known. They dined in a room by themselves, were served by -Chinese waiters procured from a near-by laundry, ate their rice with -chop-sticks, drank amber-colored tea without sugar or cream, and did -not speak one word of anything but Chinese during the entire evening. -The one drawback to their complete happiness was that during the dinner -Mr. Wang received a telegram concerning some business that demanded -his presence in Boston the following morning. He therefore was obliged -to leave S---- on a late train that same night, much to his own regret -as well as that of his guests. His final instructions to Jo were to -entertain his young friends at breakfast the following morning before -seeing them off on the train for their respective places of study, and -then to remain in S---- until his return, which probably would be within -two days. - -This programme was faithfully carried out by our lad to the point of -escorting his friends to the railway-station and seeing them off. One -reason for his peculiar enjoyment of their company was that owing to -Rob's constant companionship his own advance in learning English, as -well as in acquiring general knowledge, had been so much more rapid than -theirs that his young companions acknowledged his superiority in these -respects with openly expressed wonder and admiration. Then, too, his -experience in American law courts, that had resulted so triumphantly, -caused him to rank among them as a sort of a hero, to be regarded with -great respect. - -All this was so flattering and so pleasant to Jo that after their -departure, when for the first time he found himself without companions -in a city of strangers, his extreme loneliness caused him to seek -out the Chinese laundry near the hotel. There he would find other -fellow-countrymen, who, if not of his own rank, at least could talk -to him in his native tongue; also he fancied that by them the recent -flattery which so had pleased him would be continued. Nor was he -mistaken, for when he reached the laundry its inmates received him with -profound kotows, indicating deep respect, and quickly provided him with -tea and sweetmeats. - -As Jo had been curious concerning the lives and occupations in America -of these people, who, though belonging to the coolie or lowest class of -Chinese, still were his countrymen, he spent more than an hour in the -laundry, asking questions and acquiring much information, such as no -foreigner could have gained in a lifetime. So interested did he become, -that, in order to realize more fully the nature of the work they were -doing, he took from one of them the flat-iron he was using and for a few -minutes operated it himself. - -The young student was so intent upon this novel form of investigation -as not to realize that he was performing actual laundry-work directly -before an open window, through which he was plainly visible to -outsiders. Nor did he notice that a man, lounging on the opposite side -of the street, was keeping keen watch of his performance. Even if Jo -had noticed this man he would have paid no attention to him; nor would -he have known that all his movements of that day had been closely -followed by that same individual. But this was the case, and when Jo -appeared at the open window of the Chinese laundry, evidently engaged in -ironing a garment, the man smiled grimly. At the same time he produced a -pocket-camera having a telescopic lens, which for a moment was levelled -directly at the unsuspecting lad. - -"I reckon that'll settle his business," muttered the man to himself. -"Who would have thought of his playing into our hands by doing such a -fool thing?" - -A little later Jo, while sitting in the reading-room of his hotel, was -handed a telegram, the very first he ever had received. After carefully -reading the superscription, to make sure that it really was addressed -to him, he tore open the brown envelope, nervously unfolded the yellow -enclosure, and read as follows: - - "BREVOORT HOUSE, NEW YORK CITY. - - "Have important need of you here. Take first train. Wire time - of your arrival. I will meet you at station. - - "(Signed) WANG CHIH TUNG, Secretary, etc." - -"Is there any answer, sir?" asked the boy who had delivered this -despatch and who stood waiting while Jo read it. "Here are blanks if you -want them." - -"Yes," replied our lad, speaking slowly, but thinking at top speed. "I -want to send two of these same things. Can you take them and see that -they go light away quick?" - -"Yes, sir," replied the boy. "That is my business." - -"Can you tell me how soon I can get a train for New York?" - -"In ten minutes, if you hurry," answered the boy promptly. - -"When will it get me to New York?" - -"Ten thirty to-night." - -"You are sure?" - -"Sure, sir, as if I was a railroad time-table." - -Relieved at so easily having obtained the information he wanted, and -excited at thus being summoned by so high a dignitary as Mr. Wang, Jo -wrote two despatches on blanks provided by the waiting boy, and gave -them to him for delivery at the nearest telegraph-office. One was to Mr. -Wang, announcing the proposed hour of his reaching New York, and the -other, telling of his intended trip to that city, was addressed to Mr. -Hinckley. For each of these he paid the boy twenty-five cents, and then, -having no time to lose, he hurried to the railway-station. There he had -barely secured a ticket for New York when an express-train thundered up -to the platform. Two minutes later it was rolling swiftly away, carrying -as passengers Chinese Jo and the man who had followed his movements so -closely all that day. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -JO FINDS THAT HE IS SOME ONE ELSE - - -When, late at night, Chinese Jo reached New York and alighted from -his train in the Grand Central Station he was bewildered and almost -frightened by his surroundings. He found himself in a vast edifice -occupied by many long trains of cars, some standing still, either -receiving or discharging passengers, and others in motion, drawn or -pushed by hoarsely puffing locomotives. Between every two trains was a -narrow platform extending the whole length of the great station, and -most of these were crowded with outgoing or incoming passengers, all -in a hurry, and each too intent upon his own affairs to pay attention -to those of his neighbors. Among them moved red-capped porters and -blue-clad railway officials, too mindful of their own importance to -condescend to answer the low-voiced questions of an insignificant -"Chinaman." - -As Jo drifted with the tide of one of these human streams, his eyes -searched anxiously every face within his range of vision with the hope -of discovering Mr. Wang. But no such good-fortune was in store for him, -and finally he reached the street without having found his friend. He -had asked several of the uniformed officials if they had seen a Chinese -gentleman anywhere about the station, but some of them had only laughed -without answering, while others had paid no attention to him. Outside -the station, however, and standing irresolute on the sidewalk, Jo was -beset by plenty of persons anxious to serve him. Drivers of carriages, -cabs, and baggage wagons shouted at him and solicited his patronage. -Agents of express companies wanted to take charge of his luggage, -ragged street urchins struggled for possession of his hand-bag, while -hotel-runners besieged him with cards of their respective houses. - -"But I only want to go to the Blevoort Hotel," he finally managed to -explain, "and not anywhere else." - -"Take you to the Brevoort for five dollars," shouted a hack-driver, -waving a whip in the lad's face and at the same time reaching for his -hand-bag. - -"I am going to the Brevoort House, and will show you the way if you -like," said some one close behind Jo, as he was attempting to explain -that he had not five dollars to expend on carriage-hire. - -Turning, our lad saw a man, evidently, from the bag that he carried, -a traveller like himself, and, greatly relieved to find some one -willing to aid him in this time of trouble, he gratefully accepted the -stranger's offer of guidance. - -"All right, then, come along," said the man. "No, we don't want no hack. -Street-cars are good enough for us." - -With this he waved aside the clamorous throng of drivers, and led -the way to a car bound down-town. As they rode, the stranger, while -admitting that he was not a resident of New York, so impressed our lad -with his knowledge of the great city, and of the manifold pitfalls that -it held for the unwary, that he inwardly congratulated himself upon -having met so willing a guide, who at the same time was so competent to -direct his steps. - -The car took them within one block of their destination, and when Jo -read the name "Brevoort" over the doorway of the hotel he believed his -troubles to be ended, for surely here he would find his friend, or at -least learn of his whereabouts. - -"Is there a gentleman by the name of Wang stopping here?" he inquired of -a sprucely attired clerk at the desk. - -"Not if we know it," was the reply, accompanied by a supercilious stare. - -"But I received a telegram only a few hours ago telling me to meet him -here." - -"Can't help that. If he is here it's without my knowledge, and you'll -have to find him as best you can." - -"Then I will take a room for the night and wait till he comes," said -poor Jo, desperately. "This is the only address he gave, and so he is -sure to look here for me sooner or later." - -"Haven't a vacant room in the house," answered the clerk, shortly; "and -if you think this hotel is a Chinese joint you're mightily mistaken." - -"Let's get out of here," said Jo's friendly guide. "That's outrageous; -and if this place isn't good enough for you it isn't good enough for me -either." - -Here, unobserved by our lad, the speaker winked at the clerk, who winked -back understandingly. "Come with me," added the man. "I'll show you a -decent place, where we can spend the night, and to-morrow I'll help you -hunt your friend." - -As Jo knew not what else to do, he for a second time gratefully -accepted the offer of this stranger, and followed him out through the -inhospitable doorway he had so hopefully entered a few minutes before. -Again boarding a street-car, they were carried far down-town, and -finally reached a small hotel, in which they secured a room containing -two beds. - -There they spent the remainder of the night and had breakfast the next -morning. By this time Jo had determined to make one more effort to find -Mr. Wang at the Brevoort House, and, if it failed, to return at once to -Hatton. He still had money with him to pay his fare, but not enough to -keep him much longer at a New York hotel. During breakfast, which he and -his newly formed acquaintance ate together, he confided this plan to the -latter, who gave it his hearty approval. - -"Best thing you can do," he said. "New York is no place for a stranger, -more especial a foreigner who is not used to American ways. There's -only one thing, though. While we're down-town we might as well visit -the office of the police commissioners, and find out what they know -about your friend. They keep track of all foreigners arriving in the -city, and are sure to have full information concerning any one so -distinguished as your Mr. Wang. It's only about a couple of blocks away, -and you can leave your bag here to pick up as you come back." - -Jo agreed to this proposal; and, filled with a new hope, willingly -accompanied his friendly guide. They walked much farther than two -blocks, but our lad was so fascinated by the novel sights about him -that he took no note of the distance traversed. Finally they entered -a massive stone building, in which an elevator speedily lifted them -several stories above the street level. Jo caught a glimpse of the -word "Commissioner," printed in letters of gold over a doorway, as he -was ushered into an anteroom, the entrance to which was guarded by an -officer. His acquaintance seemed to know this man, for he nodded to him -as they passed in. Then he said to Jo: - -"You sit here and wait a few minutes, while I go and see if the -commissioner can give us a hearing." - -With this he turned away and disappeared through a second doorway at the -other end of the room. - -So Jo waited and waited with the unquestioning patience of his race -until more than an hour had passed, while many persons went in and out -without paying him the slightest attention. At length he began to grow -uneasy; and, walking over to the officer who guarded the door, he asked: - -"Is the commissioner very busy this morning?" - -"Rather," was the laconic answer. - -"Then, perhaps, I had better not wait any longer." - -"Oh, I guess you had," was the reply, accompanied by a curious scrutiny -of the young Chinese. - -"But it may be that he won't have time to attend to my affair." - -"He'll attend to you fast enough when the time comes. Never you fear." - -Reassured, but at the same time somewhat perplexed by these answers, Jo -returned to his seat and waited another hour. Then, determined to remain -no longer, he walked to the door with the intention of going back to the -hotel and carrying out his original plan. - -"What do you want now?" inquired the officer on guard. - -"I am not going to wait any longer," replied Jo. - -"Oh, you're not going to wait any longer, aren't you? Reckon we'll see -about that, too. Just you stroll back to where the deputy marshal left -you, and stay there till you're ordered to move, or I'll make things -lively for you. Do you hear me, Chink? Well, then, get a move on." - -Bewildered and frightened by the officer's fierce aspect, Jo did as he -was bidden, and again resumed his seat. He had hardly taken it, when the -door through which his acquaintance had disappeared was flung open and -another officer called out, "Joseph Lee!" a summons that our lad obeyed -with alacrity. - -He was ushered into a comfortably furnished room, containing a number -of men, and was conducted to the presence of one who sat behind a desk. -Near at hand stood his acquaintance of the night before. - -"Is this your man, deputy?" asked the person behind the desk. - -"Yes, sir; he is," replied Jo's acquaintance, who was a deputy United -States marshal, engaged in searching out illegal Chinese residents of -the Eastern District. - -"What is your name?" asked the man behind the desk, now turning to Jo. - -"Joseph Lee," was the reply. - -"Native of China?" - -"Yes, sir." - -"How long have you been in this country?" - -"About eight months." - -"Where?" - -"Hatton." - -"What have you been doing there?" - -"Studying." - -"Never lived in S----?" - -"No, sir; but--" - -"Never mind your buts. Haven't you been employed in Charley Wing's -laundry in S----?" - -"Certainly not. I am a student, and--" - -"This isn't your picture, then?" said the United States commissioner, at -the same time holding out an enlarged photograph of a scene in a Chinese -laundry. - -Jo took it, and to his amazement recognized himself, prominently in the -foreground, and engaged in ironing as though that were his trade. - -"Yes, sir," he answered. "This seems to be a picture of me; but--" - -"That will do," interrupted the commissioner sharply. "Now let me see -your certificate." - -Jo had a certificate of identity, to which was attached a photograph of -himself as he had looked when about to leave Hong-Kong. This certificate -had been furnished by an American consul-general in China; and, as he -had been warned always to keep it about his person, he now was able -promptly to produce it. - -"Um, um," muttered the commissioner, as he glanced over the paper. Then -aloud he added: "This appears to be a certificate of identity issued -to one Li Tsin Su, student, unable to speak English, and so forth. -You speak English fluently, declare your name to be Joseph Lee, and -admit the correctness of this picture of yourself at work in a Chinese -laundry, a photograph, by-the-way, that does not in the least resemble -the one attached to this certificate. Thus, your case seems to prove -itself beyond need of further investigation, for you don't appear to be -anywhere near as sharp in matters of deception as most of your tricky -countrymen. I rather think you won't find America a congenial sphere for -your future studies. Marshal, remove the prisoner, and retain him in -custody until such time as the next personally conducted excursion is -ready to start." - -"This is an outrage!" protested poor Jo, struggling furiously in the -viselike grip of the man who had taken him in charge, "and I shall -appeal--" - -"Shut up!" growled the officer, "and come along quiet, or you'll only -make a bad matter worse." - -With this he hustled his indignant but helpless prisoner from the room -at so breathless a pace that he could utter no further word of protest. - -A half-hour later saw our unfortunate lad stripped of everything found -in his pockets and lodged in one of the city prisons, in company with -several of his countrymen, all of the coolie class, who were awaiting -orders from Washington for their deportation to China in accordance with -the provisions of the Chinese Exclusion Act of the United States. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -WHAT HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO CHINA - - -Of course, the telegram purporting to come from the Chinese secretary -of legation, by which Jo had been lured to New York, was a forgery; nor -had either of those intrusted by him to the bogus messenger-boy, who -delivered it, ever been forwarded to its address. Thus, Jo's Hatton -friends had no idea that he had left S----, but supposed him to be there -in company with Mr. Wang. They were well satisfied that this should be -so for a time, and Rob was especially glad; for whenever he met any of -the muckers they were sure to call out: - -"Say, saphead, where's yer Chinee? Don't yer dare let him out, for fear -he'll get hurted? Yer scared to be seen on the street with him, that's -what's the matter! Yer needn't be, though, fer we wouldn't tech him with -a ten-foot pole, specially if yer'd muzzle him and lead him by a chain, -same as they do all the other big monkeys. Bet yer don't know where he -is! Bet he's got woozy and runned away! He'd better stay away, too, or -we'll fix him good!" - -So, for about a week, Rob was not sorry to have his friend in a place -that promised a greater safety than Hatton. At the end of that time, -however, the Hinckley family began to wonder why they did not hear from -their young guest, and Rob wrote him a letter, that he sent to the hotel -in S----. It was promptly returned, with a note from the proprietor -stating that the Chinese lad only had stayed in his house one day, and -then had disappeared, but that a telegram for him lay unclaimed in the -office. - -Mr. Hinckley at once sent for this telegram, which proved to be from -Mr. Wang, dated at Boston, stating that he should be unable to revisit -S----, and advising Jo's immediate return to Hatton. It was a week old. -Upon this Mr. Hinckley telegraphed to Washington, only to receive word -that Mr. Wang was travelling in the South and would not be back for -a month. Inquiries for the missing lad were now set on foot in every -direction, but no clew to his whereabouts could be found; nor was it for -long months after his disappearance that its mystery was cleared away. - -In the mean time, much as our Hatton friends were troubled by their -young guest's unexplained vanishing, their attention was largely -diverted from it by news from China that Dr. Hinckley was seriously ill. -The first intimation of this came in a letter that told of his failing -health and of his plan to seek its restoration through a visit to -America. - -"Won't it be fine!" exclaimed Rob, "to have them here? Father'll be sure -to get well as soon as he sights the Connecticut Valley. Its air always -has made a new man of him." - -For a whole day he revelled in these happy anticipations. Then came the -fateful cablegram that in a moment swept away his light-heartedness and -changed the whole current of his life. It was from his mother, and was -in the private code that his parents had prepared when they left him -in Hatton. In all the years since then he had been obliged to refer to -this code but twice; for people living on small salaries cannot often -afford to send messages costing several dollars per word, with both -address and signature to be paid for at full rates. The present message -that had been flashed from far-away China, across Asia, under the Indian -Ocean, the Red Sea, and the Mediterranean, across Europe and under the -Atlantic, read as follows: - - "Syntax, Boston.--Fable, garnet, hazel." - -The word "Syntax" had, from the first, been registered in the Western -Union office at Boston, to save the expense of cabling the name of the -State in which Hatton was located, and it meant, "Rev. William Hinckley, -Hatton," to which address the despatch had been forwarded at an extra -charge of twenty-five cents. - -"Bring the code-book, quick, Rob!" exclaimed Mr. Hinckley, as this -message dropped like a bombshell into the quiet circle gathered in -the pleasant parsonage parlor that evening. Rob had been studying his -lessons for the next day, his uncle was reading, and Mrs. Hinckley -happened to be writing a letter to China. - -In a few seconds the boy had dashed up-stairs and was back with the -alphabetically arranged code-book. - -"Fable?" said his uncle, and Rob, turning to the F's, ran his finger -hastily down the long column. - -"Oh!" he gasped, "Fable means, 'Mason too ill to travel.'" - -"Garnet?" continued Mr. Hinckley, huskily. - -"Garnet means, 'Wants to see Rob before he dies.' Do you believe it can -be as bad as that, Uncle Will?" and a choking sob rose in the boy's -throat. - -"First find the meaning of 'Hazel,' and then we will talk about it," -replied Mr. Hinckley. - -"Hazel," replied Rob, in another moment, "means, 'Send Rob to us at -once.'" - -"Oh, Rob! my dear, dear boy!" cried Mrs. Hinckley. "It is terrible for -you, and it is going to be dreadfully hard to give you up, for you have -become as our own son." - -"But we must give him up, and that at once," said her husband, -sorrowfully, "since the meaning of this despatch cannot for a moment be -misunderstood. Mason's illness must have taken such a sudden turn for -the worse that his life is endangered. They evidently hope, though, to -prolong it for some weeks, at least, or Fanny would not send for Rob. -She knows that he cannot, under the most favorable conditions, reach her -in less than a month." - -"But in case of the worst, she would want Rob with her," suggested Mrs. -Hinckley. - -"In that case she would come to him, for, with Mason dead, there would -be nothing to keep her in China." - -"That's so," said Rob, hopefully. "I hadn't thought of that. When do you -think I can start, Uncle Will? I suppose we'll have to telegraph all -the different companies to find out which of them sends out the first -steamer." - -"That would be expensive and take time," replied Mr. Hinckley. "I -believe we can do better. The Post-Office Department keeps track of the -sailing dates of all steamers that carry mails, in order that letters -may be despatched as often and as quickly as possible. So, though our -post-office must be closed by this hour, I will go over to Postmaster -Garrett's house, and see if he hasn't a printed slip giving the sailing -dates of Pacific steamers for the next few weeks. While I am gone, you -and your aunt can be getting your things together ready for packing." - -With this Mr. Hinckley was about to leave the house, when his wife said: - -"Why, William, those post-office notices are always published in the -Boston papers, and there is yesterday's lying on the table." - -"So it is!" exclaimed Mr. Hinckley, picking up the paper as he spoke. -"How stupid I am! Yes, here is the very thing we want: 'China and -Japan, _via_ Tacoma, mails close 5 P.M. on the 6th, steamship -_Oriental._.' That is to-morrow, and it means that mails will be taken -on the evening express which reaches Albany about midnight. There it -meets and makes part of the New York night express for Chicago. From -Chicago they will go to St. Paul, and then, by way of the Northern -Pacific Coast, Limited, to Tacoma, reaching there on the 10th, which -undoubtedly is the _Oriental's_ sailing date. At any rate, Rob, so long -as you go with the mail you are bound to be travelling the quickest -possible way. To catch the Boston express, you must go to Albany by the -noon train to-morrow. I shall go with you that far, and we will make all -your ticket arrangements there." - -Thus, within fifteen minutes from the time that fateful cablegram found -Rob Hinckley quietly studying lessons for the morrow, and expecting to -do little else for many months more, school had become a thing of the -seemingly remote past, and he was a traveller bound on a journey that -would take him half-way around the world. Moreover, the earlier details -of this journey were already planned, and he was to set forth within a -few hours. It is no wonder that he got but little sleep that night, nor -that he was up at daylight packing his trunk and sorting out certain -cherished possessions that he meant to distribute as keepsakes among his -boy friends. - -He went to school at the usual hour, but only to announce his departure -to the masters, say good-bye, and collect his books. The head-master -requested him to wait a few minutes and accompany him to the great hall -where the entire school assembled for morning prayer. There, to Rob's -embarrassment, he was conducted to a seat of honor on the platform, -from which the master gave notice of his coming departure, stated its -sad cause, said some very flattering things about Rob himself, and -then asked the school to join him in an earnest prayer for their young -friend's safety during the tremendous journey he was about to undertake, -and that at its end he not only might find his dear father alive, but -restored to health. - -At the conclusion of this prayer tears stood in Rob's eyes and in those -of many of his young friends as well. He wanted, before leaving, to say -good-bye to the whole body of his school-mates, as he did not expect to -see any of them again; but he did not exactly know how to do so, and was -immensely relieved when the head-master further said: - -"Robert is to leave Hatton by the noon train to-day, and in order that -his friends here gathered may have the opportunity, which I am sure they -desire, of bidding him farewell and seeing him off, all classes will be -dismissed at eleven clock." - -As a result of this thoughtful provision, for nearly an hour preceding -the departure of the Albany train the little Hatton railway-station -presented one of the liveliest scenes in its history, and Rob was -greatly affected by the innumerable evidences of esteem showered upon -him by his school-mates. When the train finally pulled out, with our -lad waving his hat from the rear platform of its last car, it was to an -accompaniment of a hurricane of cheers and farewell shouts. - -"Who is the most popular fellow in Hatton?" cried the leader of the -academy rooters. - -"R-O-B, Rob! H-I-N-C-K-L-E-Y, Hinckley! ROB -HINCKLEY! Hi-ho! Hi-ho! GOOD-BYE!" was the answer shouted -forth in tremendous chorus by every boy and girl present; and this was -our young traveller's final farewell from the place that seemed his home -more than any other in all the world. - -For three days after leaving Albany, Rob journeyed swiftly and without -untoward incident past Buffalo and Chicago, up into the great Northwest, -through St. Paul, amid the vast wheat-fields of Minnesota and the Red -River valley, over the limitless prairies of North Dakota, through the -"Bad Lands" bordering the Little Missouri, and into the incredibly rich -copper regions of Montana. Then came the dreadful day on which he lost -his train, and with it all hope of catching the only advertised steamer -to leave the "coast" for a week. It happened at Helena, where the train -was to remain for fifteen minutes; and Rob, tired with being so long -shut up in a car, decided to take a brisk walk into the town. He wanted -to see something of the place, and needed the exercise. - -So he set forth, walked as far as he dared, allowed too narrow a margin -of time for his return, missed his way, and finally regained the -station only to see his train pulling out from its farther end. For -a second he could not believe his eyes. Then he ran madly after the -disappearing cars, screaming for them to stop. Even in the blindness of -his excitement a moment of this effort convinced him of its folly, and -he halted on the edge of the platform, while two great, scalding tears, -that he had no heart to repress, coursed slowly down his cheeks. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -ACCEPT A KINDNESS AND PASS IT ALONG - - -"Is it as bad as all that, my boy?" asked a kindly voice at Rob's elbow; -and the lad, turning quickly, looked into the sympathetic face of a -United States army officer, whose khaki uniform was faced with red. - -Captain John Astley, commanding Battery Z of Field Artillery, returning -from leave in the East, had been placed in temporary charge of a body of -recruits ordered to Vancouver Barracks, near Portland, Oregon, which was -his station. He had stopped at Helena _en route_, to pick up a few -more newly enlisted men, and, being at the railway-station that morning, -was attracted by Rob's running and shouting after his rapidly vanishing -train. Captain Astley was tender-hearted, as are all brave men; and, -noting our young traveller's genuine distress, he impulsively stepped -forward to inquire into its cause. As he saw tears on the lad's cheeks, -he knew it must be serious, for Rob did not look like a fellow from -whose eyes tears could easily be extracted. - -"Yes, sir," replied poor Rob, who, longing for sympathy in this moment -of distress, was moved by the kindly face of the stranger to unburden -his heart of its load of trouble. "It is about as bad as it can be, for -my father is dying in China, and my only chance of seeing him alive lay -in catching the _Oriental_, which sails from Tacoma to-morrow evening. -Now I have lost her, and there won't be another steamer of that line for -nearly a month. Besides, my baggage is on the train just gone; and my -pocket-book, with my tickets and all my money, has gone with it, locked -up in my suit-case." - -"That does seem a rather serious situation," said Captain Astley, -gravely, "but perhaps it won't prove irremediable, after all. I've -noticed that things looking the darkest at first view often brighten -upon closer inspection. Suppose we sit down for a minute and see what -light can be thrown into this darkness." - -When Rob had accepted this friendly invitation, and the two had seated -themselves on a near-by baggage-truck, the elder man continued: "To -begin with, let us know each other. I am John Astley, Captain of -Artillery, U.S.A., and stationed at Vancouver Barracks, to which place -I must proceed by to-morrow morning's train. I wanted to go on to-day, -but, unexpectedly, was detained at the last moment, and came to the -station to hold over my luggage. I must confess that I was much annoyed -at this detention, but if it affords me an opportunity of helping you -out of your trouble I shall not regret it." - -"Thank you, sir," replied the lad. "My name is Rob Hinckley. I am the -son of a medical missionary, stationed at Wu Hsing, on the Si Kiang, in -China, where I was born; but I have lived for the past fourteen years, -and gone to school, in New England. I have passed my preliminaries for -Yale, and should have entered next fall if the news of my father's -serious illness, and his great desire to see me before he died, had not -altered all my plans. Now, by my own carelessness in walking too far, -while the train waited here, I not only have lost it, but probably have -lost my only chance of ever seeing him again." - -"Isn't there a steamer of some other line--the _Empress_ from -Vancouver, the _Yusen Kaisha_ from Seattle, or the Pacific Mail from -San Francisco--that you can take within a few days?" suggested Captain -Astley. - -"There is one from San Francisco in about a week, but, you see, my -fare is paid through to Nagasaki by the Tacoma line, and I'm afraid -I haven't money enough to buy another ticket. Besides, I should have -fare from Tacoma to San Francisco to pay, and hotel bills. Then, too, -my pocket-book, with money, tickets, and everything, has gone off on -that train. I thought I'd be extra careful, and so locked it up in my -suit-case before starting out to walk." - -"I hope you still have the key," said Captain Astley, seriously, but -with a twinkle in his gray eyes. - -"Yes, sir; I've got that. I don't see, though, how it is going to do -me much good, seeing that I haven't money enough to take me even to -Tacoma. There's another thing I've just thought of. My trunk is checked -through to Nagasaki by the _Oriental_; and as my suit-case has the same -name on it, probably some one will be kind enough to put it on board the -steamer. So there isn't much chance that I shall ever see it again." - -"Oh, I guess there is, provided the telegraph still is in order, and I -know it was working a few minutes ago." - -"I haven't even money enough to pay for a telegram," objected Rob. - -"So it is doubly fortunate that I happen to have a few pennies left over -from my last month's pay," laughed the captain. - -"But I am a stranger to you, sir, and you don't know that I am honest -enough to repay you, even if I ever get my money back," objected Rob, -flushing with the embarrassment that money troubles always cause those -not used to them. - -"Haven't you just told me all about yourself?" suggested the captain, -gravely; "and can't I read 'honesty' written on every feature of your -face? Besides, one must always be willing to risk somethink in an -investment from which he hopes to gain rich returns in the form of -self-satisfaction. So it's all right, every way you look at it, and I -think we'll buy the use of a west-bound wire for the next half-hour or -so." - -Thus saying, Captain Astley led the way to the telegraph-office, into -which Rob doubtfully followed him. There the former first persuaded the -station-agent to wire the conductor of the train that had brought our -young traveller thus far, an inquiry concerning him and his ticket. Then -he wired the Pullman conductor to look after Rob's suit-case and deliver -it to the station-agent at Tacoma, to be kept by him until called for by -Captain Astley. - -"I put it that way," explained the latter, "because the Tacoma agent -knows me, while he doesn't know Robert Hinckley; and, as we are going on -together to-morrow, it won't make any difference which of us receives -the bag." - -A third despatch was sent to the Tacoma agent of the steamship company, -notifying him that unforeseen circumstances prevented Mr. Robert -Hinckley from sailing on the _Oriental_, requesting him to hold over a -trunk marked Hinckley and bearing Nagasaki check 907, and asking him to -meet the following day's Coast Limited at the Tacoma station, with money -to refund the price of the forfeited ticket. - -"I don't know whether or not he will do that," said Captain Astley; -"but perhaps he will, seeing that he is pretty well acquainted with me. -At any rate, it is worth trying for. You may send the replies to these -messages up to the X Hotel," he added, turning to the operator. - -"But I am not staying at the X Hotel," objected Rob, remembering how -very elegant and expensive that establishment had looked when he passed -it a half-hour before. "I can't afford it." - -"Not as my guest?" asked the army man. - -"I don't see how you can think of doing so much for me," blurted out -Rob. "I never heard of any one being so kind to a perfect stranger." - -"My dear lad, I once was a boy myself, and continually getting into -scrapes, from which kind people, as often as not entire strangers, -helped me out. So you see I now am only repaying a small portion of -the debt I owe to those who were good to me. Besides, I am fond of -boys, especially of boys who behave themselves as gentlemen, and am -delighted at the prospect of having one as a travelling companion, -even for a short time. So don't you fret any more over the incurring -of obligations; also, never hesitate to accept whatever good thing is -offered you in this life, for the bad you'll have to accept, whether or -no." - -"All right, sir," replied Rob, smiling happily, as he now could well -afford to do. "I will gratefully accept all the kindness you offer, and -pass it along to some other fellow, whenever I find one in a trouble out -of which I can help him." - -"Good!" laughed the captain. "And now that we understand each other, -let's go up to the hotel for breakfast." - -Owing to the efforts of this Heaven-sent friend, Rob's troubles, that -had seemed so overwhelming, melted away like frost before the warm -breath of a cloudless sun. While they were at breakfast, a message was -received from the train conductor that Robert Hinckley, accidentally -left behind at Helena, had paid full first-class fare through to Tacoma, -and on the strength of this the Helena agent provided our lad with a -ticket to that point. The Pullman man wired from Spokane that Rob's -baggage was in his keeping, and would be handed over at Tacoma according -to instructions. They did not hear from the steamship agent; but on -the following day, when our travellers reached Tacoma, after crossing -the coast range by aid of the superb Stampede Tunnel, and having been -whirled down the western slope, through the magnificent fir forests of -Washington, they found that gentleman awaiting them at the station. -Here, also, they found Rob's trunk and his suit-case. - -The steamship agent explained that, while he could exchange an unused -ticket for one good by the next ship of the same line, he was not -allowed to refund money already paid for passage. "However," he added, -turning to Rob with a smile at the latter's clouding face, "owing to -the fact that I was notified in time, I was able to sell your room to -a gentleman who, finding all first-class accommodation engaged, had -taken second-class passage rather than wait for another steamer. He, of -course, was glad to pay the difference in price, and so I am able to -refund half the cost of your ticket, if you feel that you cannot wait -for our next ship." - -Rob hesitated, while he made a rapid mental calculation. - -"Take it," advised Captain Astley, "and come with me to Vancouver -Barracks. There, at least, we can save you a hotel bill while you are -waiting for another steamer." - -So our lad accepted the money, surrendered his steamship-ticket, -purchased another to Portland, Oregon, rechecked his trunk to the same -point, and a few minutes later found himself, still in company with -his army friend, speeding to the southward on the same train that had -brought them to the coast. - -His first act, after they were again under way, was to refund the money -expended in his behalf for telegrams and hotel expenses in Helena. Much -to his relief, Captain Astley accepted this without demur, it being one -of that officer's pet theories that no gentleman will place another -under a pecuniary obligation against his wish, even to the extent of a -five-cent car-fare. - -In the mean time the latter had learned all that was worth knowing of -Rob's history, of course including his recent experiences in connection -with Chinese Jo. When he discovered that his young companion could talk -Chinese, he said: - -"I wish we were to be together long enough for you to teach me, as I -believe the time is not far distant when a knowledge of that language -will prove a most valuable addition to an army officer's mental -equipment." - -Finally they reached Portland, where, before the train had stopped, an -orderly was in the car saluting and handing his captain an official -envelope. - -"By Jove!" exclaimed the latter, as he tore it open and glanced rapidly -over its contents; "here's a hot shot from a masked battery, and -perhaps it may mean that you and I can--But never mind now. We'll talk -it over in quarters this evening. Orderly, get these traps out; look -after Mr. Hinckley's trunk, and see that it is sent over to the barracks -with the rest of the luggage. You wait in the ambulance, Hinckley, while -I get the men started, and I'll rejoin you within a few minutes. Great -Scott! but this, surely, is great news!" - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -FROM THE GOLDEN GATE TO THE PEARL RIVER - - -"I wonder what that despatch can be about," thought Rob, as he sat -in the comfortable ambulance which, drawn by two big army mules and -with its curtains rolled up, was used as a carriage by the officers of -the post. "He was as excited as though war had been declared against -somebody or other; but I haven't heard that we are likely to go to war -with any one. Perhaps it's Indians, though, and, if so, there's sure to -be something about it in the paper." - -Thus thinking, Rob beckoned to a passing newsboy and bought a copy of -the _Oregonian_. Diligently as he searched its columns, he could not -find a word about Indians. Nor were there any war rumors, and he was -more than ever puzzled, until his eye lighted on the heading: - -"Battery Z ordered to the Philippines." - -Yes, that was it, and Rob began to feel very lonely as he read the -brief announcement to the effect that Battery Z was to leave Vancouver -Barracks at once for San Francisco, where the transport _Logan_ was -already waiting to take it on board. - -"That knocks my chance of spending a week, or even part of one, at -the barracks," he said to himself, "and I did want to so much. I don't -suppose I ought to go over, even for a night, because Captain Astley -will be too busy to bother with me. It looks as if he had already -forgotten me, for I must have waited here an hour, and I shouldn't blame -him if he had." - -Just here Rob's sombre reflections were interrupted by the cheery voice -of Captain Astley, who sprang into the ambulance from the opposite side -and ordered that it move on. - -"Hello, Hinckley!" he cried. "I beg your pardon for leaving you so long, -but I have been rushed breathless by most unexpected orders that have -completely upset all previously arranged plans." - -"Then you really are going to Manila?" asked Rob. - -"How did you know? Oh! it's already in the paper, is it? Yes, and we've -got to move out of here in a hurry--to-morrow, if we can, or the next -day at the latest. So I've been arranging about trains and a lot of -things that had to be looked after on this side of the river. But, -before I forget to mention it, how would you like to go along with us?" - -"I!" cried Rob, too surprised to answer the question. - -"Yes, you. I wired to the Presidio for permission to take with me Robert -Hinckley, our Chinese instructor, and it is granted, provided he pays -his own mess bills. They will come to something less than two dollars -per day during the voyage from San Francisco to Manila. From there it -is only a couple of days' run over to Hong-Kong; and by going with us -you can beat that Tacoma ship by at least a week. Besides, you won't -have any fare to pay between here and San Francisco. What do you think? -Is it a go, and may we count on you as a fellow-passenger aboard the -good old _Logan_?" - -"I should say you could!" cried Rob, even more excited than the captain -himself. "I never heard of such a piece of undeserved good-luck. Of -course, I'll go with you, and feel everlastingly obliged to you for the -chance, besides. Only, I don't know how I ever can repay such kindness." - -"Nonsense!" exclaimed the other. "I thought we finally had settled that -question away back in Montana. But here we are, and for the next few -days you'll have enough to do to knock all thoughts of gratitude out of -your head, for I am going to appoint you my A. D. C. Perhaps you don't -know what that is, so I'll tell you. An A. D. C. is a chap who, in -active service like the present, has to work twenty-five hours out of -the twenty-four, and gets no thanks for anything he does. Do you want -the job?" - -"Yes," replied Rob, happily, "and I'd take it if it were twice as hard." - -So our lad joined the army, and for the next two days, from early -morning until late at night, he was about as busy as a boy well could -be--helping the captain pack, writing his letters, running hither and -thither with orders, and doing whatever was given him to do, with a -cheerful promptness that won for him the good-will of all hands. - -At the end of that time he found himself in company with a number of -officers occupying the rear car of a long troop-train on which was -loaded Battery Z--men, horses, guns, and all--headed southward, up the -broad Willamette Valley, and starting on their thirty-six-hour run -towards the city of the Golden Gate. On the following day they skirted -for hours the base of grand old Shasta, one of the mightiest and most -beautiful of American mountains. Then they ran down the exquisite valley -of the Sacramento, which they first saw as a brook and at last crossed -as a mighty river pouring a turbid flood into San Pablo Bay. A little -later came San Francisco, with the bustle and anxious excitement of -debarking, marching through the city, and re-embarking, this time on the -great, white transport that was to bear them away in the track of the -setting sun, across seven thousand miles of Pacific waters. - -In all this time Rob, while fully intending to write to Hatton -concerning his adventures and change of plans, had not found a minute -when it seemed possible to do so. Not until the _Logan_, with her -crowded passenger-list, including civil officials, military officers, -troops, government school-teachers and other employés, and her vast -miscellaneous cargo of live-stock, guns, ammunition, machinery, and -stores of every description, had got so far out to sea that the -Farallones were only a blur on the horizon behind her did it occur -to him that he had neglected his last opportunity for sending back a -message until he should reach the distant Hawaiian Islands. Then he sat -down and wrote a long letter that he was able to mail eight days later -at Honolulu, but which did not reach Hatton until a full month from the -date of his departure. In the mean time Mr. Hinckley had cabled to China -that Rob would sail by the _Oriental_ from Tacoma on a certain date, -and when finally he learned of his nephew's changed plans, it did not -seem worth while to cable again, as the lad was already due to arrive at -Hong-Kong, and so could tell his own story. - -Rob enjoyed every minute of his twenty-four hours' stay in beautiful -Honolulu. He was enchanted by its wealth of strange flowers, its -tropical foliage, and by the many new fruits that he now tasted for the -first time. He drove out to the Pali, the frightful mountain precipice, -five miles back from the city, over which, in the old savage days, -King Kamehameha I. drove to their deaths an army of his enemies. He -experimented with surf-riding on a slender board at Waikiki beach, -ate poi, which he didn't like, and enjoyed poha jam. He wanted to -climb Diamond Head and to visit the great sugar plantations of Ewa -and Waialua; also he would dearly have loved to sail to the island of -Hawaii, one hundred and fifty miles away, and gaze upon the mighty -volcanoes of Kilauea and Mauna Loa; but there was not time, and all -these had to be left for another visit. - -The next chance for going ashore came two weeks later, when the _Logan_ -stopped for a few hours at the lonely but lovely island of Guam, -destined a few years later to become a most important way-station of the -American Pacific cable. After Guam came five days more of uneventful -sailing, and then Manila Bay, with Corregidor Island standing sentry at -its entrance. - -"I wonder what Corregidor means?" asked Rob of Captain Astley, as they -stood together gazing at this outpost, from which the first warning gun -had been fired when Dewey's fleet slipped through the gray of dawn into -Manila Bay. - -"Some one told me," replied the army man, "that in olden times every -Spanish city was governed by a regidor, assisted by councilmen, one from -each division, or ward, called corregidors. So if we were to Americanize -the name we would call it 'Alderman Island.'" - -"Or 'City Father Island,'" laughed Rob. - -It was intensely interesting to sail up that broad, mountain-bordered -expanse of water, and recall the stirring events of May-day, 1898, when -Dewey and his men did the same thing, only with the terrible difference -that at any moment they were liable to run into a deadly nest of -torpedoes. As they approached the head of the bay they saw Cavité on -the right; then the shipping anchored in the roadstead; and then Manila -itself lying on both sides of the sluggish Pasig, the old walled city on -the right and the more modern town on the left as they faced them. - -At Manila, Rob sorrowfully parted with the comrade whom he first had met -in far-away Montana, and who ever since had been at once dear friend, -guide, instructor, and pupil; for a steamer, on which he promptly -engaged passage, left for Hong-Kong the day after the _Logan's_ arrival. - -During the month they had spent together Captain Astley had so -assiduously devoted himself to the study of Chinese that now he -possessed a fair working knowledge of the Southern or Canton dialect, -while every man in the battery, thanks to Rob, could express himself -with a certain fluency in pidgin (business) English. All of them were on -hand to see their young instructor off, and as the launch that was to -carry him to his new steamer backed out from the crowded landing, their -farewell cheers reminded him of Hatton, and he felt quite as lonely as -he had on that first day of his eventful journey. Now, too, that he no -longer had friends and regular duties to divert his mind, and with China -only two days' sail away, all his anxiety concerning his parents came -back with redoubled force. Would he find himself fatherless?--or would -the dear face still be there with its smiling welcome? So impatient was -he that the two days between Manila and Hong-Kong seemed as long as -any previous two weeks of his journey, and he found himself straining -his eyes for a glimpse of the China coast hours before there was any -possibility of sighting it. - -Finally, a number of high, rock-bound islands came into view. Then -the ship, passing through a narrow entrance between two of them, -threaded a tortuous, strongly fortified channel that opened into the -broad, splendid harbor of Hong-Kong. On the right was the recently -acquired British territory and new settlement of Kowloon, with wharves, -dry-docks, godowns, and barracks. On the left rose Hong-Kong island, -with the fine city of Victoria nestled at the base of a peak eighteen -hundred feet high and climbing its wooded slopes. The moment the ship -dropped anchor amid a fleet of great merchant steamers and men-of-war -flying the flags of all the maritime nations of the world, Rob signalled -one of the innumerable sampans, "manned" by Chinese women, that swarmed -alongside. He already had learned that a Pearl River steamer would -leave for Canton within an hour, and so anxious was he to reach his -destination, which still lay some two hundred miles beyond that city, -that he was determined to go on by the very first conveyance. For this -reason he had his trunk and himself taken by the sampan directly from -one steamer to the other, and in a short time, without having gone -ashore at Hong-Kong, he found himself again under way, on board the -side-wheeled, American-modelled steamer _Fatshan_, bound for Canton, -eighty miles distant. - -As Rob sat on deck watching with fascinated interest the queer-looking -junks with lofty poops, low prows, and sails of matting, the sampans, -Chinese guard-boats, and numberless other quaint craft slipping to and -fro over those placid inland waters, with sails outlined against the -dark background of the Tai-Mo-Shan Mountains, a stranger sitting near -him remarked: - -"Beautiful, isn't it?" - -"Yes," replied Rob, promptly. "I don't believe there can be a more -fascinating river-scene in all the world." - -From this the two easily drifted into conversation; and at length the -stranger, who proved to be a business-man from Amoy, said: - -"New to this part of the world, aren't you?" - -"Yes," replied Rob; "it all is new to me now, though I was born here; -but my parents took me away nearly fourteen years ago." - -"Indeed! May I ask where you were born?" - -"Wu Hsing, up on the Si Kiang." - -"You don't mean the place where the missionaries were killed the other -day?" - -"Missionaries killed!" repeated Rob, mechanically, and with blanching -cheeks. "How were they killed? How many? What were their names?" - -"Killed by a mob of natives, as usual; but the city tao-tai and fifteen -of the ringleaders were executed yesterday in Canton, so everything is -quiet up there now. Their names? Why, I don't seem to remember; but all -who were at the station were killed. Nobody escaped. Of course, none of -your friends were there, though, seeing that you moved away so long ago." - -"My father and mother were there," groaned poor Rob. And for him the -light of life seemed to go out with the setting sun that just then sank -from sight in the blood-red waters of the Dragon's Mouth. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -IN THE WORLD'S MOST MARVELLOUS CITY - - -Stunned by the terrible news he had just heard, Rob sat silent, trying -to think of all that it meant to him, while his new acquaintance, -shocked at the unexpected result of his chance remark, tried in vain -to console him. It might not be so bad as reported, he said, for such -things always were exaggerated. Probably, Rob would find that his -parents had escaped and were safe in Canton. Perhaps the massacre had -extended only to native Christians, as often was the case; or, it was -more than likely that the Hinckleys had been warned of the outbreak in -time to leave Wu Hsing before it took place. - -"They couldn't leave," answered Rob, "for my father was too ill to -travel." Then, wishing to be alone with his great sorrow, the lad -abruptly rose and went to his state-room, which he did not again leave -that night. - -As it was not advisable for the steamer to reach Canton before sunrise, -she stopped about ten o'clock and remained at anchor until daybreak, -when she again was got under way. An hour later Rob was wakened from a -troubled dream of fighting, killing, and burning by such a confusion -of yells, splashings, and other strange sounds that he rushed out on -deck with the idea that his dream had become a reality. Once in the open -he gazed upon a scene unique and unparalleled. The steamer was slowly -making her way against the swift current of a turbid river, along the -water-front of the most marvellous city in all the world. She was moving -amid a vast collection of floating craft, from fine, English-built -Chinese war-ships and foreign gun-boats down through junks of all sizes, -stern-wheel "kick-boats" propelled by man-power, gorgeous mandarin-boats -gay with fluttering flags, house-boats, flower-boats--which are floating -palaces in which men of wealth give expensive dinners--silk-boats, -rice-boats, and produce-barges from up-river; fishing-boats, duck-boats, -long, slender--paddling-canoes known as snake-boats, besides thousands -of sampans and slipper-boats, that ply for hire in any capacity, and on -which half a million of people are born, live, and die, in many cases -without ever setting foot on land. - -So poor are these sampan dwellers, and so greatly is the supply of -their labor in excess of the demand for it, that they struggle with -one another for the chance of making even a single "cash," which is -valued at one-tenth of a penny. In the present instance scores of -sampans, propelled by sweeps or sculling-oars, were racing towards -the _Fatshan_, their occupants screaming, gesticulating, firing off -crackers, and beating gongs to attract the attention of her passengers. -All these craft looked exactly alike, and were about twenty-five feet -long by eight feet wide. Each had a small, open deck forward, on -which a man, standing and facing the bow, rowed with a pair of sweeps. -There was an arch-roofed house amidships, and aft of it a covered deck -occupied by a woman, who worked a long sculling-oar, by means of which -she both steered and propelled the light craft. Not one of these boats -was painted, but all were colored alike with pungent smelling Ning-Po -varnish. - -From every sampan peered round-faced, solemn-eyed children, boys and -girls, all wearing pig-tails and dressed alike, and looking alike, -except that the smaller boys generally had bladders, squares of cork, or -billets of a light wood fastened to their shoulders to keep them afloat -in case they fell overboard. The girls were held to be of so much less -value that for them life-preservers were not thought of. Whenever these -children were more than four or five years old they helped, or attempted -to help, their parents with the oars, while those of younger age took -care of the babies. - -In the rush towards the steamer of these queer-looking and queerly -manned craft they were in constant collision, smashing recklessly -together, apparently striving to overturn one another, or to push their -rivals out of the way. If one succeeded in making fast, others would -hold on to her until the single grass-plaited rope would break, and all -would be swept astern in the swift current, their crews screaming and -shaking fists at one another as they went. - -It was bedlam and babel, sea-fights and water-sports, commercial rivalry -and insanity, all mixed into one grand helter-skelter of confusion; and -yet, so far as the interested spectators could note, no one was drowned, -nor even hurt, though, apparently, no one would have cared a snap if -every one else had come to serious grief. - -The Chinese passengers from the lower deck of the _Fatshan_ swarmed into -such sampans as succeeded in making fast, their queer-looking luggage, -done up in matting, was pitched after them, and away they went as -though each second was too precious to be wasted. Such of the foreign -passengers as were tourists or globe-trotters, visiting Canton out of -curiosity, were engaging guides to show them the sights of the wonderful -city, and arranging for sedan-chairs, in which they were to be borne on -the shoulders of coolies through its endless miles of swarming streets. - -There are no wheeled vehicles in these granite-paved thoroughfares, -and no beasts of burden, for the broadest and most important street -of Canton is but eight feet wide, while in most of them a tall man -standing in the middle may touch the houses on either side with his -extended finger-tips. From these threadlike passages, packed with -blue-clad, yellow-visaged humanity, and reeking with filth, open the -narrow portals of shops whose contents would dazzle an Aladdin. Each -dim doorway is barred against the entrance by a tiny altar, from which -ascends, never-endingly, the incense of smouldering joss-sticks; but -once the uninviting entrance has been passed, the visitor finds himself -in another world. - -The interior is scrupulously clean, and its perfumed atmosphere is -that of quiet elegance. He is met by smiling attendants clad in silken -garments and shod with noiseless felt, who bow profoundly before him, -at the same time cordially shaking their own hands in token of welcome. -They invite him to be seated in wonderfully carved chairs, lined with -silken cushions, and darkly lustrous with the polish of ages. Tiny -tables of marvellous inlay are set before him, and from them he is -invited to drink of amber-colored tea served in egg-shell porcelain. -Afterwards the hidden wealth of the establishment is brought forth, -piece by piece, for his inspection, and it is intimated that these -things are for sale, though he never is urged to purchase. - -Or he is conducted from room to room, lighted from interior courts -and filled with the most exquisite specimens of human handiwork known -to the world. Here are silk embroideries of a beauty, delicacy, and -texture not found elsewhere, exquisitely carved ivories, startling -designs, boldly executed in lacquer, gold, and silver, jade, crystal, -and precious stones. Here are feather-work and brass-work, priceless -porcelains and cloisonné, softest crêpes and gossamer linens, black -wood furniture graved with the painstaking skill that workmen of the -Western world bestow only upon precious metals. All these things, and -an infinity of others equally desirable, are passed in slow succession -by the deft-handed attendants before the fascinated gaze of the foreign -visitor, until he longs for the wealth of a Croesus, and is only -withheld from purchasing to the full extent of his means by memory of -the grim customs officials who so surely await his homecoming. - -From these places where things are sold the sightseer in Canton is -borne away to places where things are made, or to temples, pagodas, and -execution grounds. Perhaps he is permitted to enter the yamen of some -wealthy mandarin, and, merely by passing through an enclosing wall of -buildings, finds himself transferred in a minute from the filth and -squalor of the narrow street, with its swarms of jargon-yelling coolies -and leprous beggars, dimly filtered light and overpowering smells, into -a place of sunlight and clean air, a fairy-land of trees and flowers, of -singing birds, shaded walks, and plashing waters, of quiet and coolness, -strangely attractive architecture--a place of gratified senses and -restful luxury. - -But none of these things was for Rob Hinckley--at least, not on this -occasion, for instead of being a sensation-seeking tourist he merely was -a sorrow-stricken lad, friendless in a great, pitiless city, well-nigh -penniless, and desperately uncertain which way to move. He turned sick -with apprehension as he gazed from one side of the steamer to the bund, -or landing-place, where gangs of half-naked coolies grunted and sweated -under their burdens of freight, or from the other to the yelling sampan -crews ready to fight for a cent's worth of patronage. To him they -resembled the myriad occupants of a gigantic ant-hill, and appeared -equally lacking in human sympathies. - -Rob was faint from the exhaustion of his almost sleepless and supperless -night, and at length realizing his most pressing need, he sought -breakfast in the saloon. From this he returned to the deck a half-hour -later, refreshed and strengthened, but still as uncertain as ever -regarding his next move. Then all at once his uncertainty vanished, for -the very first object that caught his eye as he stepped outside was that -which is most dear and most beautiful to all Americans, especially when -seen in a foreign land--the flag of the stars and stripes. It was at -some distance up the river, blowing out strong and free, high above the -only clump of trees in view, and besides it no other flag was visible. - -In Canton, while most of the greater nations own their legation -buildings, the United States is satisfied to lodge its representative in -rented quarters. To offset this humiliation, so far as lay in his power, -the American consul-general had raised a noble flag-staff, so much -taller than those of his neighbors that the starry banner flown from its -top was the most conspicuous flag in all Canton. Now it waved a friendly -greeting to poor Rob, filling him with renewed hope, and bidding him -come to it for aid in this time of trouble. - -Nor did our lad hesitate to accept its invitation; but, noting the -general direction to be taken, he ran down the gang-plank and plunged -boldly into the seething mass of blue-clad humanity thronging the -narrow thoroughfares of China's greatest city. A little later, guided -by occasional glimpses of the flag as he went, he had gained a bridge -spanning a canal that separates the city proper from the Shameen, a -beautiful, tree-shaded island on which stand the foreign legations, -dwellings, and business houses of Canton. - -At the city end of this bridge was a barrier having two wrought-iron -gates, one large and one very small. As the latter stood hospitably -open, Rob was about to pass through it when the Chinese gatekeeper -hurriedly flung open the other, at the same time respectfully informing -him that it was reserved for Europeans (all white foreigners in China -are known as Europeans), while the little gate was for the passage of -such natives as are allowed on the Shameen. - -The incident was trifling, but it wonderfully restored the -self-confidence of our young American, and as he walked proudly through -the big gate, which was closed with a slam behind him, he felt quite -ready to face and defy the whole Chinese nation. Turning up a shaded and -well-kept walk lined with substantial houses, each standing in its own -grounds, he again sought for a glimpse of the flag, but in vain, for the -foliage above which it waved was so thick as to hide it from below. In -this dilemma Rob approached a gentleman who stood at a front gate, in -company with a group of Chinese, with a view of inquiring his direction -to the American consulate. As he drew near he overheard the gentleman, -who looked like an American, say loudly, slowly, and very distinctly: - -"I've told you over and over that I don't understand one word you say, -and unless you can speak English there is no use of your trying to talk -business with me. You wanchee catch one talkee man--sabe?" - -"Perhaps I can help you, sir," said Rob, stepping up at that minute. "I -understand and speak some Chinese." - -"If you only can and will, I shall be ever so much obliged," replied the -American, "for I am quite sure these fellows have something important to -communicate. But I am a new-comer here, without a word of the lingo, and -our interpreter has not yet put in an appearance this morning." - -So Rob talked and interpreted with the result that a few minutes later -the situation in question was fully understood by both parties, and the -Chinese departed quite satisfied. - -"If I only could talk it as you do!" said the gentleman, enviously. -"Won't you step inside for a cup of tea?" - -"No, I thank you," replied Rob. "I only stopped to inquire my way to the -American consulate. I want to see the consul-general on most important -business." - -"Then I am very sorry to say that he has gone to Hong-Kong, and will not -return for a week." - -"Oh!" cried Rob; "what shall I do? Perhaps you can tell me something -about a reported massacre of missionaries at Wu Hsing. Did it really -occur?" - -"I believe it did, though that was before I came out; but I hope you -hadn't any friends there." - -"My father and mother were there." - -"You poor fellow! That, indeed, is a bitter blow. May I ask your name?" - -"It is Hinckley." - -"Not a son of Dr. Mason Hinckley?" inquired the other, eagerly. - -"Yes." - -"Then you needn't worry any more, for Dr. Hinckley and his wife left for -America just before the outbreak, and are a long way towards the land of -safety by this time." - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -A TURN OF FORTUNE'S TIDE - - -For a moment Rob's heart beat quick with joy and his face became -radiant; then it clouded again as he said, quietly: - -"I think you must be mistaken, sir; for I received a cablegram in -America that my father was too ill to travel, and longed to see me -before he died. That is the reason I am now here." - -"No," asserted the stranger, whose name, as Rob afterwards learned, was -Bishop, "I am confident there can be no mistake, for I saw Dr. and Mrs. -Mason Hinckley in Hong-Kong. I was newly arrived, and had gone with an -acquaintance to arrange for a lot of stuff to be taken aboard the Canton -boat. While we were there, another boat of the same line came in from -the upper Si Kiang. She had but two European passengers, a lady, and her -husband who was so weak from illness that we assisted him to a carriage. -My friend knew them slightly, and after they were gone he told me that -they were a missionary doctor and his wife from Wu Hsing, that their -name was Hinckley, that the doctor had been critically ill, but had most -unexpectedly rallied, so that he was able to travel, and that they were -to leave for the States on the _China_, which sailed that evening. All -this was distinctly impressed on my mind by the news of the Wu Hsing -outbreak, which came a week later, and I was glad to remember that two -at least of the possible victims had escaped in time." - -Rob listened breathlessly to these details, and, when Mr. Bishop -finished speaking, he exclaimed: "They are alive, then, and safe! If -I only had known, and stayed quietly where I was! Do you remember the -date, sir, on which you saw them in Hong-Kong?" - -"Yes, it was the 10th of last month." - -"The very day on which I was to have sailed from Tacoma, and they must -have sent another cable after I left Hatton. It's all right, though, and -I am too glad to care about anything else." - -"It is too bad that you have missed each other, and still are on -opposite sides of the world; but I suppose you will follow them by the -next homeward-bound steamer, and so rejoin them inside of another six -weeks. I envy you, and only wish I had a prospect of again seeing the -States within the same number of months." - -"I expect your chance is several times better than mine," laughed Rob, -who for the moment was too light-hearted to give a serious thought to -his own awkward predicament. "I would go quick enough if I could, but I -haven't the money even to pay my fare to Hong-Kong. So it looks as if -I'd have to stay here until I can earn the price of a ticket back to -where I have just come from. Do you happen to know of any one who could -give me a job?" - -"I can't say at this moment," replied Mr. Bishop, regarding the lad -keenly as he spoke; "but I may think of some one. Where are you staying?" - -"Nowhere. I only came on this morning's boat, and my baggage still is on -board." - -"Then suppose you get it up here and stay with me for a day or two while -you look around. I've a big house, with plenty of room, and shall be -glad of your company. Besides, I expect you can help me a good deal with -my Chinese studies." - -"All right, sir," assented Rob, promptly accepting this proposition, -"and I'll be back inside of an hour." - -With this our lad hurried away, saying to himself as he went: "I believe -I must be one of the luckiest fellows in the world, and only a little -while ago I thought I was one of the most miserable. My biggest bit of -luck, though, was having Jo come to live at Hatton and teach me Chinese, -for that seems about the most valuable accomplishment a fellow can have -out here. I do wonder what became of him." - -Rob crossed the canal bridge, went out through the big gate, that -promptly was opened at his approach, and turned down Heavenly Clouds -Street with the assured air of one who had resided in Canton all his -life. Then he received a shock, and at the same time proved himself -to be one of the very newest of new arrivals in that crafty city of -poverty-sharpened wits. On a bit of straw matting, spread above the -granite flagging of the narrow roadway, lay a child three or four years -old, apparently in the very grasp of death. Its eyes were closed, its -pale features were distorted as though by a spasm; it was gasping for -breath, and its hands were tightly clinched, while its poor little body -was only partially hidden beneath a bit of ragged, blue cloth. Beside -the dying child knelt a mother, bending over it and rocking her body -to and fro in an agony of grief, while tears streamed from her eyes. -She, too, was clad in rags, and evidently was in the last extremity of -poverty, since she had not even a kennel in which to conceal her dying -child from the curious gaze of the swarming street. No one stopped to -speak with her or to offer her the slightest aid in this time of her -sore distress; and as Rob, with swelling heart, gazed on this pitiful -picture, he said to himself that all Chinese were brutes and unworthy -the name of human beings. - -"Can't something be done for them?" he asked of a passer-by, and -speaking in Chinese; but the man only laughed and hurried on without -answering. Then Rob spoke to the woman herself, but her grief was too -great to permit her to take heed, and she only stroked the face of her -dying child with gestures of despair. At this, feeling powerless to aid -her by any other means, Rob drew a silver dollar from his pocket and -gently laid it on the mat beside the little sufferer. Then he hurried -away. - -While he was within sight the woman did not alter her position nor -offer to pick up his gift. Only when he had disappeared, and the -stealthy hand of a street urchin was about to close over the coveted -coin, did she snatch it from the mat, spring to her feet, deal the -would-be thief a stinging box on the ear, pick up her opium-drugged -child, and serenely walk away, well satisfied with the success of her -carefully planned tableau. When Rob returned that way he wondered what -had become of the dying child who had so excited his sympathies, and it -was only on the following day, when he again saw them at the same place, -going through the same performance, that he realized how he had been -duped. - -On that first morning he transferred his belongings from the steamer -to the house of his newly made friend, who told him that, as there was -nothing in particular for him to do just then, he was free to go where -he pleased. So he strolled to the riverfront of the Shameen, where -from one of the tree-shaded benches, placed at intervals along its -length, he watched the wonderful life of the river, with its swarming -junks and sampans. After a while, attracted by a huge white-and-yellow -nondescript-appearing craft, moored in the stream at some distance above -where he sat, he walked in that direction for a closer view. He had -proceeded but a few steps when he was more than ever puzzled to note -that above the object of his curiosity floated an American flag, while -he also could see the grim muzzles of enormous guns protruding from -various parts of its superstructure. It evidently was a ship of some -kind, and also a man-of-war; but to Rob's eyes it was of even stranger -appearance than the closely packed acres of Chinese craft surrounding -it. He finally decided that it must be a wreck, resting on the bottom -of the river, since its deck appeared to be but a few inches above the -turbid waters, and he wondered why its crew, sauntering back and forth -beneath the awnings, did not exhibit more concern. - -While Rob thus was puzzling, a young man, wearing the uniform of an -American naval officer, walked briskly up to where he was standing, and -signalled a sampan. - -"Can you tell me, sir," asked our lad, addressing this officer, "what -American ship that is out there, and how she got wrecked?" - -"Wrecked!" repeated the other. "What do you mean by wrecked? She looks -all right to me. Is anything the matter with the old packet?" - -"Of course, I don't know much about wrecks," replied Rob, a little -nettled by the officer's tone, "but if a ship sunk to the bottom of a -Chinese river, nearly ten thousand miles from home, isn't wrecked, then -the word must mean something different from what I think it does." - -"But she isn't sunk. She's floating all right, and showing fully as much -freeboard as she did when we brought her across the Pacific, nearly two -years ago. Monitors always look that way, you know." - -"Monitor! Is she a monitor?" cried Rob, who never before had seen one of -this peculiarly American type of war-ship. - -"To be sure. She is the United States monitor _Monterey_, one of the -finest of her class, and, with the exception of her sister-ship, the -_Monadnock_, now at Shanghai, the most powerful fighting-machine now -afloat in Asiatic waters. Wouldn't you like to go aboard and take a look -at her?" - -Of course, Rob gladly accepted this invitation, and, entering the sampan -with Lieutenant Hibbard, was sculled out to the floating fortress, which -always lies off Canton, providing a safe-refuge for foreigners against a -storm of wrath such as sometimes sweeps over that turbulent city. She is -at the same time a most effective peace-keeper, since the Chinese know -as well as any one that her powerful guns could within a few hours lay -their metropolis in ruins. - -The _Monterey_ is famous as having been the first ship of her class to -cross the Pacific to Manila, where she added such strength to Dewey's -handful of war-ships as to render his position there impregnable. - -On gaining her side Rob found the rail to be quite two feet above -water, instead of only a few inches, as he had supposed. He also found -her to be of great breadth of beam, with wide sweeps of unencumbered -deck, both forward and aft. Safely below the water-line he found roomy, -well-ventilated quarters for officers and crew, as well as ample engine, -coal, and ammunition spaces. He marvelled at her huge guns, polished -until they shone, mounted fore and aft in steel turrets of a strength -and construction to defy the most powerful of modern missiles. At the -same time, these could be revolved at will, by a mechanism so delicate -as to be controlled by a finger. Rob took tiffin with the officers of -the ward-room mess, whom he entertained with news from the States and -from Manila, and when, late in the afternoon, he again was set on shore, -he felt that his first day in Canton, in spite of its clouded beginning, -had been one of the very happiest and most interesting of his life. - -That evening Mr. Bishop, whom our lad regarded at once as friend and -employer, found leisure for a long conversation with him, during which -he said: - -"As you probably know, one of the most valuable railway concessions in -China, that for a line from this city to Hankow, on the Yang-tse-kiang, -nearly a thousand miles due north from here, has been granted to an -American syndicate. Another concession, for a line from Hankow to Pekin, -was granted a year earlier to the Belgians. These two railways, meeting -at the metropolis of Central China, will form a grand trunk-line, -extending nearly two thousand miles north and south through the -very heart of the empire. The Belgians already are at work on the -construction of their line, while the Americans have made their surveys -and are ready to begin construction. I am an American engineer, employed -by the syndicate, and, as a preliminary step to my further work, I am -about to undertake a journey of investigation from here to Hankow, -and, possibly, on to Pekin. My plans for this journey are so nearly -completed that I could start to-morrow; but I have not as yet secured a -satisfactory interpreter. Will you accept the position? The trip will -be long, and to a certain extent dangerous, but the pay will, I think, -be sufficient to carry you from Shanghai to America after our journey -is completed. What do you say? Are you ready to plunge into the heart -of China, and bury yourself from the world for the next two or three -months, or do you prefer to remain here and look for some easier job?" - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -IN THE HEART OF UNKNOWN CHINA - - -That Rob accepted Mr. Bishop's proposition goes without saying, for he -was an American boy, and, as such, was filled to the brim with a genuine -love of the adventure and excitement attending explorations in strange -countries. Thus, two days after the offer was made, he found himself -a very important member of an expedition setting forth from the great -southern city of Canton and bound for the far north. Two months later, -a junk, flying the American flag and having on board our travellers, -drifted with the tawny flood of the mighty Yang-tse-kiang (Son of the -Sea River) along the crowded water-front of Hankow, a city of such -commercial energy that it is known as the Chicago of China. - -During the weeks that had elapsed since they left the last traces of -Western civilization at Canton, they had seen no white man nor heard -a word of English, except such as they spoke to each other. They had -travelled by sampan up the North River and the Wu Shin, across the -province of Kwang-tung, to the head of navigation at Ping-Shih. Here -they had engaged coolies to transport their luggage, camp outfit, and -provisions over the "carry," thirty miles long, across the Nan-Ling -Mountains, to Chen-Chow, a quaint, old, walled town, marking the -head of navigation on the Yu-tan River, a branch of the Sian Kiang, -which in turn flows northward into the Yang-tse. There they had once -more chartered a junk; and, always accompanied by a couple of slim, -light-draught Chinese guard-boats, had sailed, poled, or drifted across -the great inland province of Hu-nan, which is half again as large as the -State of New York. - -Although always using their boat as headquarters and for the -transportation of supplies, the two Americans had travelled most of the -way by land, on foot, on pony-back, or in sedan-chairs borne by coolies. -They had slept in temples, examination-halls, tea hongs (warehouses), in -official yamens, and occasionally, but never when they could help it, -in crowded, vermin-infested taverns, always surrounded by throngs of -excited spectators, who poked holes through the paper windows or widened -cracks in the floors of overhead rooms to gratify their curiosity by -peering at the ridiculous-looking barbarians. - -While crossing the Nan-Ling Mountains they had traversed a portion -of one of China's great national highways, constructed thousands of -years ago, and apparently never since repaired. Originally fifteen -feet of its width was paved with large, flat stones, four feet square, -and from one foot to eighteen inches thick. Many of these stones had -disappeared, no one could tell how, nor where to, leaving gaping and -bottomless mud-holes to entrap the unwary. The remaining blocks were -deeply hollowed by the bare feet of millions of burden-bearing coolies -and scored with wheelbarrow grooves. This great highway was formerly -lined along its hundreds of miles of length with temples, tea-houses, -rest-houses, and shops; but such of these as have not disappeared are -now in ruins, and serve only as haunts for highwaymen, lepers, and -beggars. - -In the remote past the several states or provinces of China were -independent kingdoms, waging war upon one another; and even to this day -the inhabitants of each province regard the people of those adjoining -as "foreigners." So they fortified themselves against one another, -and our explorers were so fortunate as to come across one of these -fortifications. It was a high and very thick wall of masonry, having -battlements and massive gateway, surmounted by a watch-tower, built on -a boundary-line across the highway, where the latter occupied a narrow -valley. The hills on either hand were low enough to be easy of ascent, -but the impregnable wall reached only from side to side of the valley. - -"What's the matter with walking around an end of it?" asked Rob, staring -at this triumph of defensive architecture. - -"Nothing at all, that I can see," replied the engineer. "Only, I -suppose, no Chinese ever would think of doing so." - -Again the road led over a high, arched bridge that once had crossed -a stream; but the stream had altered its course and gone elsewhere, -perhaps hundreds of years ago, since no trace even of its bed now -remained. But because the road went over the bridge the cargo coolies, -grunting beneath their burdens, continued to toil up the steep ascent -and down the other side, without ever a thought of making a new path -around it. - -"I won't climb over it, at any rate," declared Rob. So he and the -engineer walked around; their own coolies followed them like a flock of -sheep, and those on the bridge stared in amazement at the barbarians who -thus dared depart from established custom. - -Although other American engineers had preceded our travellers through -this country, the foreigner was still such a novelty that they were -viewed by thousands of people who never before had seen one, and who -crowded about them in embarrassing throngs. At the same time they never -were ill-treated nor even molested; for the Chinese, unless roused to -a blind fury by wrongs, real or fancied, are the most peaceable and -courteous of people. To be sure, our friends nearly always were spoken -of and addressed as "fan kwei" (foreign devils); but this was because -the natives never had heard foreigners called anything else. - -To Mr. Bishop's surprise he discovered, or rather Rob discovered for -him, that many of the Hu-nan people, instead of being opposed to the -construction of a railway through their country, were desirous for its -coming. Not on account of the facilities it would offer for travel and -the transportation of their products, but because it was rumored far -and wide that it would pay liberally for such graves as must be removed -from its right-of-way. Formerly, and even now in certain districts, -the grave problem was, and is, one of the most serious encountered by -the projectors of Chinese railways. Finally it was made a commercial -proposition, and the railway companies agreed to pay for such graves as -came within their lines at a rate of eight taels (about eleven dollars) -apiece. Now, such of the Chinese as understand this arrangement are more -than willing thus to turn their ancestors to profitable account. - -As the dead are not collected in regularly established burying-grounds, -but are scattered about in fields, gardens, or wherever it is most -convenient to place them, and as the entire country is thickly sown -with these precious relics, no line can be so run as to avoid them. -Consequently they must be bought up and removed. For some time Rob -could not account for the great anxiety shown by the natives to learn -the exact location of the line. Finally, however, he discovered that -those persons having graves known to be on the line could raise money on -them in advance, while such as had none proposed to borrow or purchase -a few ancestors at places so remote as to be beyond a possibility of -disturbance and rebury them in more profitable locations. - -In the cities of Siang-tan and Chang-sha, both on waters navigable -by large Yang-tse junks, our travellers found shops equipped with -foreign goods, and notably with American flour, prints, and canned -foods, though they did not meet an American nor a European in either -place. This discovery was of particular interest to Mr. Bishop, as the -appearance in those remote localities, and under existing conditions, of -these goods promised a vast extension of similar trade upon completion -of the railway he was about to build. - -Thus the entire trip had proved intensely interesting, and its results -were so highly satisfactory that, as it drew to a close with their near -approach to Hankow, our explorers already were preparing for another -journey from that point to Pekin. - -Much as they had enjoyed the one just ending, they were not sorry to -see European buildings in the mission compounds and along the bund at -Hankow, and it was good to hear their own speech once more. It also was -good to sit down to an American table, eat home-cooked food, and, above -all, to sleep between sheets in American beds. But with all these things -to be enjoyed came two disappointments. Rob's lay in the entire absence -of the letters that he had hoped to find awaiting him at this point. -From Canton he had written both to his uncle and his parents at Hatton, -requesting answers to be sent to Hankow, but the eagerly expected -letters had not appeared. A number awaited Mr. Bishop, and in them lay -his disappointment, for certain of them contained news that rendered it -necessary for him to return at once to Canton. Thus he must give up the -proposed overland journey to Pekin. - -"It is too bad!" he exclaimed. "There is so much I want to find out -about that northern line, its construction, the nature of the country -it traverses, the feeling of the people regarding it, and a dozen other -things. Now I must indefinitely postpone the trip, and so remain in -ignorance of many things most important for me to know." - -"I wish I could go for you," suggested Rob. - -"That is an idea worth considering!" exclaimed the engineer. "And I -don't see why you shouldn't collect the very information I want. You are -pretty well broken into the work by this time. But would you dare travel -another thousand miles through China, alone, and in view of the rumors -of trouble that we have been hearing lately?" - -"Of course I would," replied Rob, scornfully. "I can't see but what it -is just as safe to travel here as in any other country, especially when -one knows the ways of the people and their language as well as I do." - -The conversation on this subject was long and earnest, but at its -conclusion it had been decided that Rob Hinckley, provided with ample -funds, should travel as special commissioner of the American railway -syndicate from Hankow to Pekin. From the latter city he would return by -rail and sea to Hong-Kong, where Mr. Bishop would meet him and receive -his report. - -"By that time," said the latter, "your pay surely will amount to enough -to carry you to America, with a substantial surplus besides." - -The only condition made by our lad was that, upon his arrival in -Shanghai, Mr. Bishop should cable to the States for information -concerning Rob's parents, and should transmit the same to Pekin, there -to await the latter's arrival. - -A couple of days later the companions who had travelled so far and -endured so much together separated, the engineer to proceed by steamer -down the Yang-tse-kiang to Shanghai, and thence by ship to Hong-Kong, -and Rob, so confident in his own resources as not to dream of dangers -that he could not overcome, taking train for the north over the short -section of Belgian railway already constructed. It carried him to the -border of the province of Ho-nan. Across this province and to the -Hoang-ho, or Yellow River, he made his way successfully, though not -without encountering many difficulties during the following month. Then -his real troubles began, for no sooner had he crossed the great river, -which, on account of its frequent devastating floods, is called "China's -Sorrow," than he found himself on the edge of a fierce "storm of wrath" -that threatened to sweep over the entire empire. - -An almost unprecedented drought had prevailed over the whole of the vast -plain of northern China for nearly three years. For two years there had -been no crops, and now the same dreadful condition was promised for -the third. Everywhere were starving, desperate people, who, in their -ignorance, attributed their woes to the evil influence of foreigners, -and especially to the missionaries, who sought to overthrow the gods of -the country. - -The priests taught that the angry gods thus were punishing the unbelief -of the people, and that prosperity never would return to their land -until every foreigner was driven from it. Thus it happened that the -inhabitants of three provinces were rising against missionaries and -railway-builders, robbing and killing all who did not fly in time, -burning and destroying their property, as well as that of all native -converts to the new religion. At the same time they were making -pilgrimages to the shrines of their own gods, and imploring them to once -more send the life-giving rains. - -Rob heard rumors of these things, but, believing them to be exaggerated, -refused to turn back. So he pushed doggedly ahead, ever nearing the -storm-centre. Finally, late one day, as he approached a walled town in -which he expected to obtain lodging for the night, he suddenly found -himself beset by a mob of frantic rain-dancers, who rushed upon him from -a sacred grove by the road-side. The slender escort of soldiers that had -thus far accompanied our lad instantly took to their heels, leaving him -alone to face the hundreds of yelling demons, who firmly believed that, -if they could take his life, the act would be pleasing to their insulted -gods. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - -"FISTS OF RIGHTEOUS HARMONY" - - -The people of China have suffered much at the hands of foreigners, -and, in their ignorance of everything beyond their own line of vision, -imagine many grievances that really do not exist. Once China was the -foremost nation of the earth in arts, literature, commerce, and all that -goes to the making of what we call civilization. She invented, used, and -forgot a thousand things that the Western world is only now discovering. -She was sufficient unto herself, and desired only to be let alone. - -But the Western nations would not let her alone. They insisted upon -forcing their unwelcome trade into the country; and, moreover, upon -conducting it themselves, according to their own ideas. When she -resisted their demands they took possession of her seaports, destroyed -her forts and war-ships, placed their own steamers, protected by -gun-boats, on her rivers, monopolized her coasting trade, and even -appropriated as their own, large slices of her territory. - -Thus, while England holds the island of Hong-Kong, together with -two hundred square miles of the opposite mainland, Shanghai, and -Wei-hai-Wei, besides controlling the trade of the great Yang-tse -Valley, Russia, on the north, has seized Manchuria, Germany occupies -the province of Shan-tung, Portugal has for three hundred years been -established at Macao, and France, the chief aggressor, already in -possession of Anam and Tonquin, is making insidious but certain progress -northward through Yunan, with covetous eyes cast in the direction of -Canton, where she already has gained a foothold. Japan owns the great -Chinese island of Formosa, and only awaits a favorable opportunity for -seizing the opposite mainland province of Fu-Kien, while even Italy has -laid claim to a Chinese port and "sphere of influence." - -All these foreign nations, together with Americans and Belgians, are -building, or are proposing to build, railways in China, and all of them, -with the further additions of Canada and Sweden, are overrunning the -bewildered country with missionaries of clashing denominations, each -one of which teaches that it only is right, while all the others are -wrong. Some of these foreign teachers even go so far as to interfere -with local governments, taking upon themselves the office of magistrate, -administering the laws according to their own interpretation, and always -in favor of their own converts, and at the same time demanding to be -accorded all outward forms of respect due only to mandarins. - -On the other hand, the great mass of Chinese, groping in the darkness -of the Middle Ages, burdened by densest ignorance, steeped in -superstition, robbed by their rulers to the extreme of poverty, and -forced to unceasing toil from long before daylight until long after dark -every day of the week throughout every year of their joyless lives, are -taught by their priests, and by others of their own race to whom they -look for guidance, that all their sorrows, including floods, famines, -and plagues, are caused by the foreigners who are spreading over their -country with the ultimate intention of seizing it and subjecting its -people to their own barbarous customs. They are told that these same -foreigners sweep the rain-clouds from one portion of the sky to cause -droughts, and gather them at another to produce devastating floods, and -that they poison wells to bring on plagues. They are made to believe -that the "foreign devils" collect Chinese children in asylums, homes, -and hospitals for the sole purpose of extracting their eyes, to be -used in enchantments; that every railway-sleeper, and the foundations -of every Christian edifice, are laid upon living human bodies; and a -thousand other tales, equally monstrous but equally terrifying. - -To remedy these evils the people are invited to form themselves into -associations, and thus gain strength for the destruction of the hated -foreign devils, or at least to drive them back into the sea, whence -they came. For the benefit of those who can read, pamphlets setting -forth these views are written, printed by the million, and distributed -throughout the land; while the minds of the more ignorant are inflamed -by pictured posters illustrating the horrors perpetrated by foreigners, -and posted broadcast in every direction. - -To these invitations a Chinese readily responds; for there is nothing in -which he more greatly delights than to belong to an association of any -kind or for any purpose. Thus societies for the exclusion of foreigners -have sprung up like mushrooms, especially in those coast provinces -where foreign influences are most noticeable; and strongest of them -all is the great I-Ho-Chuan, or "Fists of Righteous Harmony" Society, -sometimes called "The Great Sword Society," but known to the world at -large as "Boxers," a name first used by the missionary correspondent of -a foreign journal. The motto of this society, as borne on its banners, -is, "Protect the empire! Exterminate foreigners!" - -During the initiation of its members they fall into trances, and believe -that, while in this state, the spirits of departed heroes enter their -bodies. After that they are pronounced invulnerable to sword or bullet, -and are declared to be possessed of magic charms that no enemy may -withstand. - -In 1898 the Boxer movement was checked by the sudden declaration of -China's young emperor, Kuang Hsu, in favor of sweeping reforms based -upon Western ideas. These he proceeded to carry out with unsuspected -energy, deposing corrupt officials in all parts of the empire, and -replacing them with others who had been educated abroad. He issued -edicts intended to revolutionize the army, the navy, the time-honored -but senseless methods of literary examination, and the manner of -collecting taxes, which, if obeyed, would place his people upon the -upward path of progress so recently and so successfully trodden by -Japan. There is no doubt that the Emperor was sincere in his avowed -determination to lift his distressed country from the depths to which -it was sunk; and had he remained in power the awful Boxer uprising of -two years later never would have taken place. But his enemies were -too strong; and, after a few months of praiseworthy effort, the young -reformer was overthrown by a powerful palace clique, headed by his great -aunt, the Empress Dowager, and composed of the high officials whom he -had removed from office. They forced him to sign a decree announcing his -own abdication of the throne, and again the Empress Dowager, China's -worst enemy, assumed the reins of power. - -At once all reform decrees were repealed, the old order of things was -restored, and hatred of foreigners was preached more loudly and more -bitterly than ever. A new life was infused into the Boxer movement, -which from that moment spread like wildfire over the northern provinces, -until in the summer of 1900 it reached its height. During that dreadful -summer mission stations everywhere were looted and destroyed, while -their unfortunate occupants were driven out to be killed or cast into -loathsome prisons, from which death was their only release. Christian -converts were massacred by scores and hundreds, railroad property was -destroyed, and railroad employés suffered the fate of missionaries. A -rumor to the effect that all foreigners, including members of legations, -had been driven from Pekin, was generally believed; as was another, -stating that every foreign resident of Tien-Tsin had been killed. Above -all, it was understood that the Empress Dowager was in full sympathy -with the movement to rid her kingdom of foreigners, and would render -every assistance in her power to those engaged in the effort. - -Such was the condition of affairs in north China when, in the early -summer of 1900, the young American, Rob Hinckley, on a peaceful mission -to Pekin, suddenly found himself deserted and alone in the presence of -a mob of crazed fanatics, intent upon taking his life. Our lad did not -know why they wished to kill him; for, since leaving the Yang-tse River, -he had found an ever-increasing difficulty in comprehending the dialect -spoken by the common people, until at length it had become wholly -incomprehensible. Thus he knew almost nothing of the Boxer movement, nor -of the awful state of affairs existing in the country between him and -Pekin. - -He, however, instantly recognized the danger of his present position, -and, clapping spurs to the jaded pony he was riding, he dashed away in -the direction of the nearest city gate, with the mob in full cry at -his heels. The distance was short, and Rob was within fifty feet of -the outer gate, with a good lead of his pursuers, when all at once it -occurred to him that he was about to jump from the frying-pan into the -fire, since once within the city walls his enemies could close all exits -and hunt him down at their leisure. With this he pulled his pony so -sharply to one side that the animal, already exhausted to the point of -dropping, stumbled and fell, flinging Rob to earth over his head. As the -lad scrambled to his feet he was amazed to hear in English a shout of-- - -"Keep on to the gate! It's your only chance!" - -Although he could see no one in that direction, the voice seemed to come -from the gateway itself; and, as his madly yelling pursuers were now -close upon him, Rob accepted the advice so strangely given and darted -forward on his original course. - -[Illustration: "HIS MADLY YELLING PURSUERS WERE NOW CLOSE UPON HIM"] - -A few minutes earlier a young Chinese, clad in the uniform of an officer -of imperial troops, stood at a narrow loop-hole in the watch-tower above -the city gate, gazing listlessly outward over a vast expanse of flat, -parched, uninteresting country. He had carelessly noted the approach -from afar of Rob's little party, whom he supposed to be ordinary native -travellers, and had only been aroused from his apathy by the yells of -the rain-dancers, as they raised the cry of, "Death to the foreign -devil!" - -"They must be mistaken," thought the officer, "for there can't be any -foreigners left in this part of the country." He watched Rob's flight -with ever-growing interest, and was about to descend from the tower so -as to meet him at the gate when the young American attempted to change -his pony's course. Then the watcher uttered the surprising call -that again altered Rob's determination, and in another moment he was -springing down the flight of stone steps leading to the outer gateway. -As he reached it, Rob had just entered, and was starting across the -barbican towards the inner gate. - -"Stop!" shouted the young Chinese. "Come here quick and help me!" - -Rob hesitated only the fraction of a second and then did as he was -bidden. The Chinese was straining at one of the two massive, iron-bound -doors of the gateway, and in another moment Rob was adding every ounce -of his own strength to the effort. It yielded slowly, and its hinges -creaked rustily as it swung heavily into place. - -"Now the other, quick!" exclaimed the stranger, and with an effort that -nearly started blood from their swelling veins the two young fellows -closed the great valve in the very faces of the frantic outside mob that -flung themselves bodily against it mad with baffled rage. They could not -open it, for a stout iron bolt had dropped into place as the gate was -closed, and nothing short of a cannonade could now force an entrance. - -"Follow me!" said the Chinese, huskily, and panting from his recent -exertion, at the same time turning up the narrow stairway leading to the -watch-tower, and Rob obeyed. - -The latter was full of perplexity at finding in this out-of-the-way -place a Chinese who not only spoke English, but apparently was willing -to endanger himself to rescue a foreigner from a mob. So quick had been -all their movements since he darted through the gateway that he had not -yet obtained a view of his rescuer's face, and, of course, had not been -able to question him. - -In the tower, at the top of the stairway, he found his strange companion -taking a quick view of the raging mob below. As he stepped to his -side, the young Chinese turned and stared him full in the eyes. For a -moment they regarded each other in amazed silence. Then a simultaneous -exclamation burst from their lips: - -"Rob Hinckley!" - -"Chinese Jo!" - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - -LEAPING INTO UNKNOWN BLACKNESS - - -To the friends who had been so mysteriously separated many months -earlier, and on the other side of the world, their reunion at this place -and under such conditions was bewildering and incredible. They could -scarcely believe the evidence of their own eyes. The last time Rob had -seen Jo the latter had been shorn of his queue, while now his hair again -hung in a long, glossy braid. For a moment they stood clasping each -other's hand, after the fashion of the West, and staring without speech. -There was so much to be said that they could say nothing. Then they were -aroused to a sense of imminent danger by the sounds of ascending voices -and hurrying footsteps on the stone stairway. Evidently the present was -no time for explanations. - -"Quick, Rob! Go up there and hide," whispered Jo, pointing, as he spoke, -to a rude ladder leading into the darkness of an upper loft. "Stay there -till I come or I cannot save you." - -Even as he spoke, Jo turned to the stairway as though about to descend, -while Rob sprang to the ladder. - -A Chinese soldier was so close at hand that he would have gained the -room and caught sight of the fugitive had not the young officer arrested -his progress with the stern inquiry: - -"What is going on below? Are you all mad or drunk with the juice of -poppies? Cannot I meditate in peace without being disturbed by the -howlings of you swine? How dare you come up here without orders? Answer -me, dog, and son of generations of dogs, before I cause you to be beaten -with a hundred blows!" - -The terrified soldier, who held a petty office, corresponding to that of -corporal of the guard, recoiled from the presence of his angry superior, -who, if he had chosen, could have him beaten even to death, and, -kotowing until his forehead touched the stones, answered: - -"Know, your honorable excellency, that the outer gate has been closed -without knowledge of any in the guard-house, and beyond it many persons, -mad with anger, are clamorous for admittance. It is a mystery; and -before opening the gate I came up here for a look at the outsiders, to -make certain that they are not enemies." - -"Closed, pig? How can it be that the gate is closed without orders from -me, the keeper of the gate? This thing must be examined into," cried -the young officer, with every appearance of extreme anger. "Let it be -opened without delay. But first come with me and look at these outside -howlers. It may be, even as your stupidity suggests, that they are men -from Chang-Chow, who have ever been unfriendly to this city because of -its greater prosperity." - -This was said to give the soldier an opportunity for seeing that no -other person was in the room, which fact he would report to his comrades. - -As they examined the furious crowd besieging the gate, Jo exclaimed, -even more angrily than before: - -"Those be no Chang-Chow men, but our friends and own people. They are -the dancers, who, together with the good priests, pray constantly for -rain, and who went out to the shrine of the holy rain-god but an hour -ago. Ah, but you shall smartly suffer for closing a gate of their -own city against them. Hasten and open it again if you would have -the setting sun behold your worthless head still upon your wretched -shoulders." - -Thus saying, the young officer spurned the trembling soldier with his -foot and followed him down the stairway. In another moment the great -gate was opened to the torrent of frantic humanity that rushed in -demanding to know what had become of the foreign devil whom they had -seen enter only a few minutes before, and where the soldiers had hidden -him. Also why they had closed the gate in the very faces of his pursuers. - -"Give him up to us," shrieked the priests, "that we may kill him, for -doubtless it is he who keeps away the blessed rain." - -The denials of the guard that they even had seen any foreigner, or that -they had closed the gate, were so little heeded by the clamorous throng, -that it might have gone hard with them had not Jo secured a hearing by -firing a shot from his revolver, a weapon that he alone of all those -present possessed. - -"The guard has not seen the foreign devil or surely they would have -arrested him," he cried, in the awed silence that followed his shot. -"Nor did they close the gate, for they would not dare without my orders, -and I gave none. Nor could one man, not even a foreign devil, close the -gate unaided, since it often has been tried and they have proved too -heavy. Only by magic could he have done this thing, and by magic must -he have blinded the eyes of the soldiers so that they did not see him -pass them into the city. But your priests have magic as well as the -foreigners, and by means of it he may be discovered. Let us then again -close the gate that he may not escape, and search for him in every -quarter of the city. When he is found let his head promptly be cut -off, before he has time again to use his magic. Thus shall the city be -purified and the wrath of the rain-god be appeased. Protect the empire! -Exterminate foreigners!" - -With this rallying-cry of the Great Swords, Jo led the way across the -enclosed space separating the inner from the outer gate, past the -guard-house, where his soldiers spent their waking hours in gambling -with long, slim Chinese cards and piles of beans, and on into the -narrow streets of the city. There he was so active in the search that -was maintained, until stopped by darkness, that he gained a notable -reputation as a hater of foreigners. Thus by his prompt action were -Rob's enemies so completely thrown off his track that not once was his -real hiding-place approached or even suspected. - -In the mean time he, intensely wearied by hours of confinement in that -hot, dusty loft, grew vastly impatient of inaction. He was hungry and -parched with thirst; no sound penetrated his prison, nor any ray of -light. He had no idea of the passage of time, and imagined it to be much -later in the night than it really was, when he was startled by a sharp -"Hist!" that seemed to come from the top of the ladder. - -Too wary to answer it, he only listened, with senses all alert, for -something further. Then came a whispered "Rob," and he knew that his -only friend in that part of the world was at hand. - -"Crawl here on your hands and knees," whispered Jo. "Don't let your -boots touch the floor, for the guards below are wide awake and listening -to every sound. That's right. Now put on these felt boots. Leave your -own behind, and follow me without a word." - -Rob obeyed these instructions in all but one thing. His boots were of -heavy English leather, lacing high on his ankles, and had been procured -in Hankow. They were very comfortable as well as durable, and he could -not bear the thought of exchanging them for cloth shoes with felt soles, -especially in view of the amount of walking ahead of him if he made -good his escape. So, though he put on the pair provided by Jo, he tied -the others about his neck, and, thus equipped, noiselessly followed -his friend down the ladder to the room below. From this room a narrow -doorway opened on the broad parapet of the city wall. Towards this door -they were making their cautious way, when suddenly the hastily tied -strings of Rob's heavy boots gave way, and they fell to the stone floor -with a clatter that awoke the echoes. - -Our lad uttered an exclamation of dismay as he groped about the floor -to recover his lost treasures; but it was drowned in a tumult of shouts -from below. At the same time a scuffling of feet on the stairway proved -that the alarmed guard were on their way to investigate. - -Jo, knowing nothing of the boots, could not imagine what had happened, -and called from the doorway that he already had reached: - -"Never mind anything! Come on, quick, for your life!" - -But Rob, having found one boot, was determined to have the other, for -which he still was feeling over a wide area of floor space. At length -his fingers touched it; but as he triumphantly rose to his feet a dark, -heavily breathing form, brandishing some sort of a weapon, confronted -him. The next instant he had sent the overzealous guard reeling backward -with a swinging blow from the heavy boot just recovered, that took him -full in the face. With a yell of combined pain and fright, the soldier -pitched down the narrow stairway, carrying with him the comrades who -were close at his heels. Before the confused heap could disentangle -itself, our lads had fled through the doorway and were speeding like -shadows along the top of the lofty wall. - -As they ran they heard behind them a shrill screaming and a furious -beating of gongs. Then from the tall drum-tower in the centre of the -city came a deep, booming sound that could be heard for miles. The great -drum that is only sounded in times of public peril was arousing the -citizens and sending them swarming from their houses. Torches appeared -not only in the streets but on the wall behind our flying lads. Then, to -Rob's dismay, others began to gleam in front of them. To be sure, these -still were a long distance away, but they gave certain evidence that -flight in that direction must come to a speedy end. - -"What is the use of running any farther?" asked Rob. "We'll only fall in -with that torch-light procession all the sooner. Seems to me we might as -well stop where we are and see about getting down off this perch." - -"There's only one place to get down," answered Jo, "and it still is -ahead of us. Run faster! We've got to reach it first." - -So the fugitives put on an added burst of speed, though to Rob it seemed -that they were only rushing directly into the arms of the advancing -torch-bearers. - -Suddenly Jo exclaimed, breathlessly, "Here's the place!" and then, to -Rob's dismay, he took a flying leap off the parapet into the gulf of -impenetrable blackness lying on the outer side of the wall. - -For a moment the young American turned sick with the thought that, -despairing of ultimate escape, his comrade had chosen death by suicide, -and now lay lifeless at the foot of the lofty battlement. - -Then came the familiar voice rising from some unknown depth, and calling -on him to follow. - -"Jump, Rob!" it cried; "you'll land all right, the same as I have." - -Even with this assurance our lad hesitated to leap into the darkness. -He knew that the wall was at least fifty feet high. There was at its -bottom no moat filled with water, into which one might launch himself -with safety. "Nor is there any pile of feather-beds, that I know of," he -thought, grimly. - -From both sides lines of torches were steadily advancing, while up from -the city rose a tumult of angry voices. Only in the outside blackness -that already had engulfed his friend was there the slightest promise of -escape. - -"I suppose there's nothing else to be done," he muttered, setting his -teeth and bracing himself for the effort. "So, here goes!" - -With this he sprang out into space and instantly vanished. - -When, a minute later, the advancing lines of torch-bearers came together -at that very point, they were bewildered and frightened by the absolute -disappearance of those whom they had thought to be so surely within -their grasp. - -Certainly the magic of the foreign devils was stronger than their -priests had led them to believe. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - -A SUPPER OF SACRED EELS - - -The great plain of northern China is composed of alluvial matter -extending to an unknown depth, reddish-yellow in color, and possessed -of wonderful fertility. When wet it packs closely; and later, under the -influence of a hot sun, it bakes like clay. During seasons of drought it -pulverizes to an almost impalpable dust that is blown by fierce winds -into ridges and heaps like snow-drifts. These are piled high against -obstructing walls, so that sometimes buildings standing in exposed -situations are completely buried beneath them. Such a drift of fine sand -had formed in an angle of the city wall, along which our lads fled; and -Chinese Jo, knowing of it, had selected this as a point for escape. - -Thus, when Rob, with many misgivings, leaped into unknown blackness, he -had not dropped more than twenty feet when he struck a steep slope of -soft material down which he slid with great velocity amid a smother of -choking dust. The next thing he knew, Jo was pulling him to his feet, -and bidding him make haste to get away before their mode of escape -should be discovered by the torch-bearers, who now swarmed on the wall -above them. So the lads ran, with Jo acting as guide, across cropless -fields, climbing over useless dikes, and stumbling through dry ditches, -until a black mass, dimly outlined against the sky, rose before them. As -they drew near, this resolved itself into a clump of trees, which, from -experience already gained in China, Rob knew must be a sacred grove. -It was, in fact, the very grove from which the frantic rain-dancers -had streamed in pursuit of him a few hours earlier. Now it was silent -and deserted, even the ancient temple of the rain-god, standing in its -centre, being empty of priests or worshippers. - -Finding the door of this temple open, and hearing no sound within, the -fugitives made a cautious entry into the sacred precincts. Here their -attention was attracted by a faint glow coming from a heap of embers on -an altar that stood before a gigantic image of the rain-god himself. - -[Illustration: "THE FUGITIVES MADE A CAUTIOUS ENTRY INTO THE SACRED -PRECINCTS"] - -While endeavoring to get a closer view of the idol, Rob stumbled and -pitched forward, thrusting his outstretched hands into an invisible but -shallow tank of water. He uttered a yell of affright as he withdrew them -and sprang back. "It's a nest of snakes!" he cried--"slimy, wriggling -snakes!" - -"Hush!" admonished Jo, listening intently; but there was no sound, save -of a slight splashing in the as yet unseen water. - -"If there were any priests here your racket certainly would have roused -them," he said. "But, as nobody seems to be stirring, I expect we've got -the place to ourselves. Close the door while I make a light, so that -we can see where we are." - -From the floor the speaker gathered a few bits of unburned joss-paper -that he laid on the faintly glowing altar embers and blew into a blaze. -Though this lasted but a moment, it served to show some half-burned -candles standing behind the altar, one of which Jo lighted from the -expiring flame. - -By this faint light the lads discovered a number of crude figures of men -and beasts ranged on either side of the rain-god, while a pool of water -glittered at their feet. In it squirmed a score or more of eels, emblems -of the god, among which Rob had thrust his arms. - -"There are your snakes," laughed the young Chinese, "and with them -plenty of water to drink, if you are thirsty." - -"Goodness knows! I'm thirsty enough, and stuffed full of dust besides, -but I wouldn't drink that water, with those things in it, not if I was -dying of thirst." - -"I would, then," replied Jo, who was too thoroughly Chinese to be -fastidious; and, to prove his words, he scooped a handful of the water -to his lips. - -"It isn't very good water," he acknowledged; "but perhaps we can find -some that is better where this came from." - -A short search revealed a well just back of the temple, and from it, -by means of a section of hollow bamboo attached to a long cord, they -drew a plentiful supply of water that was much purer than that in the -tank, and was not visibly contaminated by eels, snakes, or any other -unpleasant creatures. - -"My! what a blessed thing water is!" exclaimed Rob, after a long pull -at the bamboo bucket. "I don't wonder that the people of a burned-up -country like this pray to a rain-god. Now, if only we had something to -eat we'd be well fixed to move on." - -"That's easy," replied Jo, reaching into the tank and drawing forth a -large, squirming eel as he spoke. - -"Eat a snake!" cried Rob, in a disgusted tone. "Not much! I won't!" - -Jo smiled as he cut off the eel's head and proceeded to skin its still -wriggling body, which he divided into short sections. Wrapping each of -these in green bamboo leaves that he procured from a clump of the giant -grass growing beside the well, he buried them in the hot sand of the -altar, and raked over them a lot of glowing coals. - -While he did this, Rob, with the aid of a lighted candle was examining -the strange figures that occupied the interior of the temple. All at -once, from somewhere behind the great idol, he called out, "Look here, -Jo! He's hollow!" - -Going to see what was meant, the young Chinese found his friend holding -the candle above his head and pointing to a small door, standing -slightly ajar, in the back of the image. It was so perfectly fitted -that, had it been closed, no trace of an opening could have been -discovered. - -Climbing to the place, they easily opened the door, and through the -aperture thus disclosed crawled into the very body of the rain-god. -They found themselves in a space large enough for them to stand up or to -lie in at full length, but filled with a confused litter of garments, -masks, banners, and other paraphernalia of the priestly trade. - -"It's the biggest kind of a find," said Jo, evidently much excited -over this discovery, "and it gives me an idea; but I must eat before -explaining, so let us go to tiffin." - -The cooked eel, which Rob still insisted was nothing more nor less than -a snake, looked and smelled so good that the latter's desperate hunger -finally persuaded him to taste a morsel. Then he took another, and a -few minutes later, gazing thoughtfully at a small heap of well-cleaned -bones, he asked Jo if he didn't think they might cook a few more eels -while they were about it. An hour later he declared that he had eaten -one of the best meals of his life, and was altogether too well content -with their present situation to think of travelling any farther that -night. - -Jo readily agreed that they should spend a few hours where they were, -as he wanted time to think out a plan of escape, and believed that for -the present this temple was as safe a place as they were likely to find. -So, while they removed all traces of their presence, Rob arranged the -priestly vestments they had found inside the rain-god into a sort of -a bed, and a little later, lying on this, each of the lads gave the -other an account of his adventures since they had parted in far-away -America. Rob's story we know, as we do that of Jo up to the time of -his commitment to prison in New York, charged with being a Chinese -laundry-worker who had illegally entered the United States. - -"I was kept there two weeks," he now said, "and treated worse than a dog -all the time. They would not allow me to write or telegraph to you or -any of my friends, and finally carried me off at night in a prison-van, -together with a dozen coolies gathered from different parts of the -country, who hated me because I had cut off my queue. After that we -travelled handcuffed together, two and two, in a crowded immigrant-car, -to San Francisco, where we were locked up in a filthy shed until a -steamer was ready to sail. On our journey to that point we got very -little to eat, but what we had was fairly good. The food given us in the -shed was bad, but what we got on the steamer, where we were put in the -hold, without being allowed to go on deck during the whole voyage, was -simply rotten. - -"The ship was under contract to deliver us at Shanghai; but when she -anchored off Woo-Sung and they began to transfer us into a launch that -would take us to the city, fourteen miles farther up the river, we were -in such a horrible condition that the other passengers objected to -having us on board. So we were set ashore at Woo-Sung and told we might -walk the rest of the way. - -"I was so sick and weak that, after we had walked a few miles, I gave -out and laid down by the road-side. There, I suppose, I should have -frozen to death, for it was bitter cold, winter weather, if a farmer -had not found me and taken me to his house. My father afterwards made -him a rich man for it. He fed, clothed, and kept me until I could get -word to some friends in Shanghai, after which, of course, I was all -right. - -"Finding that my father had been transferred to Pao-Ting-Fu--between -here and Pekin, you know--I went there; and when he heard how I had -been treated, he was so angry that he swore he'd do everything in his -power to drive foreigners out of China. He did drive a good many from -his own district, especially railroad people; but when the Great Swords -began killing them, he drew the line and said that that was going too -far. One day a Boxer army came along with a lot of missionaries, whom -they proposed to burn to death in the city temple. My father told them -they must give up their prisoners to him, and when they refused he -ordered out his own soldiers, killed a lot of the Boxers, rescued the -missionaries, and sent them under guard to the coast. For that he was -recalled to Pekin, and Mandarin Ting Yuan was put in his place. Last -week that man turned over fifteen missionary people, some of them women -and little children, to be tortured and put to death by the Boxers of -Pao-Ting-Fu." - -"But what were you doing all this time?" asked Rob, his face paling at -thought of these horrors. - -"I had obtained a commission as captain of imperial troops, and was sent -down here, where I have been ever since." - -"You haven't seen any missionaries killed, have you?" demanded Rob, -anxiously. - -"No, and I don't think I should have, without trying to save them, in -spite of the way I was treated in America. But I received orders from -Pekin only yesterday not to oppose the Boxers in anyway, no matter what -they did. I was up in that watch-tower wondering what I ought to do -if any missionaries should come this way, when I saw the rain-dancers -chasing you. Of course, I didn't recognize you; but the moment I -discovered you were a foreigner I knew that I couldn't stand by and see -you killed without making an effort to prevent it." - -"Didn't you know who I was until we stood together on the watch-tower?" -asked Rob, curiously. - -"No. I had not time for a good look at you until that moment. Even then -I couldn't at first believe it really was you; it seemed so utterly -impossible that you could be in China." - -"What do you propose to do now?" - -"Stay with you until I get you to a place of safety." - -"But you will lose your position in the army if you leave your post." - -"Yes." - -"And perhaps be shot as a deserter." - -"Quite so." - -"Aren't you almost certain to be killed if you are found in company with -a foreigner whom you are aiding to escape?" - -"Yes." - -"And you are willing to risk your life, besides throwing away your -career, for the sake of one of the very people who treated you so -shamefully when you were in America?" - -"It is a saying of the ancients," replied Jo, "that friendship shines -among the brightest jewels in the ring of life; also, that life without -friendship is as a barren fruit tree, and that for a true friendship -life itself is not too high a price to pay. Therefore, may I not risk, -and gladly, a life of little value, to save that of one who, though he -is of a people who ill-treated me, is also the best friend I have in all -the world? Did he not, even when we were strangers, fight to save me -from abuse? and can I do less for him now that we are friends? So it is -foolish for you to ask questions, since it is assured that until I can -leave you in a place of safety your enemies are my enemies, your friends -are my friends, and wherever you go there go I also." - -"Then," said Rob, who was greatly affected by these words, "let us stay -right where we are until morning, for I want to think over all you have -told me." - -After this the lads did not talk any more, but a few minutes later were -sound asleep inside the very rain-god to which one of them would have -been sacrificed had he been caught in that vicinity a few hours earlier. - - - - -CHAPTER XIX - -AN EXHIBITION OF THE RAIN-GOD'S ANGER - - -Mongolians, including Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans, can get along -with less sleep than any other of the world's people; and Jo, in spite -of having travelled and learned to speak English, still was a true -Mongolian. Therefore, he awoke quite refreshed after two hours of sleep, -and, moving with the utmost caution, so as not to arouse Rob, he left -their strange hiding-place, carefully closing and fastening its door -behind him. Then he swiftly made his way back to the city, where he -skirted its wall to the farther side, and forced an entrance through -a now dry culvert or water-gate. After showing himself at the several -guard-houses, that, if necessary, he afterwards might be able to prove -his presence in the city that night, he went to his own quarters, where -he made preparations for a journey. He ordered a horse to be brought, -saddled, and ready for travel, and sent for his lieutenant, a man who, -though older than he, was possessed of so little influence as still to -be under the orders of his junior. - -To this officer Jo turned over command of the guard, telling him that he -considered the escape of the foreign devil, who had eluded them by the -exercise of magic arts, to be an event of such grave importance that he -was about to report it in person at Pao-Ting-Fu, and possibly to Pekin -itself. The young captain named these places in order to throw possible -pursuit off the scent, for he had decided to carry Rob in exactly the -opposite direction, or back over the way he had come, to Hankow. Having -thus arranged affairs to his satisfaction, he set forth at sunrise, -riding by way of the very gate through which Rob had made so hasty an -entrance the day before. - -Jo was ready to leave the city a full hour earlier than this, and wanted -to do so; but even greater authority than his would be insufficient to -open the gates of any Chinese city before sunrise, and so he was forced -to await that hour. - -Once in the open he rode with all speed, hoping to reach the temple of -the rain-god before any worshippers should appear, and while Rob still -slept. In this, however, he was disappointed, for, though he reached the -temple in advance of the priests who served it, and who, having joined -in the pursuit of the foreigner, had been forced to spend the night -in the city, he was dismayed to find a certain number of worshippers -kotowing and burning incense before the great image. These were wretched -farmers from the near-by country, who, having no work to do in their -burned-up fields, and with death from starvation staring them in the -face, had come in desperation to the only source they knew of from which -aid might be asked. - -Another company of these people, who reached the place at the same time -with Jo, were provided with fire-crackers, with which they proposed to -arouse the god's attention if he should happen to be asleep. A bunch was -exploded as soon as they entered the temple, and to their awed delight -the efficacy of this proceeding was immediately apparent, for the image -of the rain-god trembled, and a muffled sound came from its interior. -Evidently the god, who alone was all-powerful in this emergency, had -been asleep, but now was awaking to the gravity of the situation. With -heads in the dust, the worshippers humbly bowed before his image and -implored his aid. Loudest of them all was the young officer who had -forced a way to the very front of the assemblage. - -His prayer was in Chinese, of the mandarin dialect, which no one -present, except he, understood. Strange as it was to the ears of his -fellow-worshippers, it also contained words of another tongue still -stranger, that their ignorance did not permit them to recognize. Thus Jo -was able to call out, under guise of a prayer, and undetected: - -"It's all right, Rob. I am here, and we are safe so long as you keep -quiet." - -At this point some one at the back of the temple uttered a loud cry, at -which all the bowed heads were raised. Jo looked up with the others, -and, to his dismay, saw the great right arm of the god slowly lifting as -though to impose silence upon those who persisted in annoying him with -their unwelcome clamor. At this phenomenon the superstitious spectators -gazed in breathless suspense, and when the arm suddenly dropped back -into its former position they sprang to their feet. - -They were not so much frightened as they were awed; for in China it has -often happened that the gods have seemed to enter certain of their own -earthly images, and by well-understood movements or sounds have caused -these to express their will to the people. It was reported that the very -image of the rain-god now under observation had been thus favored, and -upon previous occasions of grave importance had made motions of the arms -or head that only the priests could interpret. So the people now waited -in terrified but eager expectation. - -Nor were they disappointed; for no sooner had the arm dropped than the -head of the image, which was big enough to hold a man, was seen to be -in motion. It certainly was bending forward and assuming an attitude -benign, but so terrifying that the awe-stricken spectators instinctively -pressed backward. As they gazed with dilated eyes and quaking souls the -great head was bowed farther and farther forward, until suddenly, with a -convulsive movement, it was seen to part from its supporting shoulders -and leap into the air. - -The crash with which that vast mass of painted and gilded clay struck -the stone pavement, where it was shattered into a thousand fragments, -was echoed by shrieks of terror as the dismayed beholders of this dire -calamity plunged in headlong flight from the temple. Never before -in all the annals of priesthood had been recorded a manifestation -of godly anger so frightful and so unmistakable. From this time on, -that particular temple of the rain-god was a place accursed and to be -shunned; for if after this warning any person should enter it, he would -be crushed to death beneath the body of the idol, which surely would -fall on him. - -So the people fled, spreading far and wide the dreadful news, and only -one among them dared return to the temple and brave the rain-god's -anger. This one, of course, was Jo, who, startled and alarmed by what -had taken place, had fled with the others. But he had paused while still -within the shelter of the grove, and, flinging himself to the ground for -concealment, had allowed the others to pass on without him. When all had -disappeared he arose and returned to the temple. As he re-entered its -dust-clouded doorway he was confronted by a spectacle at once so amazing -and so absurd that for an instant he gazed at it bewildered. Then he -burst into almost uncontrollable laughter. - -The image of the rain-god already had acquired a new head, dishevelled -and dust-covered, to be sure, but one endowed with speech as well as -with motion, and which, when Jo first saw it, was violently coughing. - -"I say, Jo Lee," called out a husky voice from this new feature of the -giant image, "I think it was a mean trick to go off and leave me shut -up in that beastly place. I mighty near smothered in there, and I don't -suppose I ever would have got out if an earthquake or something hadn't -happened. It almost shook down the whole house, and it knocked the roof -off as it was, nearly burying me in falling plaster besides." - -"It isn't a house," explained Jo, laughing hysterically in spite of -his habitual Chinese self-control. "It's the image of a god. Don't you -remember crawling into it last night? I don't know how its head happened -to tumble off, but I expect you did it yourself. And now you have -managed to give it a new one, a hundred times more useful but not half -so good looking. I never in all my life saw anything so funny, and if -you only could see yourself, you'd laugh, too." - -"Maybe I would," replied Rob, with a tone of injured dignity; "but if -you were as battered and choked as I am, you wouldn't laugh--I know -that much. Of course, I remember now all about this thing being a god, -only I was so confused when I woke up that I forgot all about where I -was. I only knew that there had been an explosion of some kind, and -that I should smother if I didn't get out. I could see a little light -up above and tried to climb to it by some ropes that I found dangling. -Two of them gave way slowly, while a third was so rotten that it gave -way mighty sudden. Then came the earthquake and an avalanche of mud that -nearly buried me; but I managed somehow to climb on top of it, and here -I am. Now I want to get down and out, for I don't like the place." - -"All right. Drop down inside, and I will open the door." - -Accepting this advice, Rob withdrew the head that had looked so absurdly -small on top of that great image, and in another minute slid out of the -open doorway far below, in company with a quantity of débris. - -"Whew!" he gasped. "That was a sure enough dust-bath. Now let us get -outside and into an atmosphere that isn't quite so thick with mud." - -"Wouldn't you rather remain in here and live than go out and meet a -certain death?" asked Jo, quietly. - -"Of course; but, even so, we can't always stay shut up in this old -rat-trap." - -"No, but it will be safer to leave at night, and also we have much to do -before we shall be ready." - -"Have we?" asked Rob. "What, for instance?" - -"It is my plan that you should travel as a priest under a vow of -silence, until we reach Hankow, while I go as your servant. If it is -agreed, then must your head be shaved in priestly fashion, your skin -must be stained a darker color, and we must obtain garments suitable." - -"That's all right, so far as the priest business is concerned, if you -think I can act the character; but you are way off when you talk about -going to Hankow, for I am not bound in that direction. You see, I have -just come from there and am on my way to Pekin." - -"But the road to Pekin is filled with danger." - -"So is the road to Hankow. I ought to know, for I have come over it, -and I am certain, from the posters I saw displayed in every town, that -Ho-nan is a Boxer province by this time. Besides, Hankow is twice as far -away as Pekin." - -"It is reported that all foreigners in Pekin have been killed." - -"Including members of the legations?" - -"So it is said." - -"Well, then, the report can't be true. In the first place, the foreign -ministers would have called in troops of their own countries for -protection upon the first intimation of danger. In the second place, -to kill a foreign minister is to declare war against that minister's -country; and I don't believe that even the Chinese government is so -foolish as to declare war against the whole world. At the same time, if -there is to be any fighting I want to be where I can see it, or at least -know about it, which is another reason for going to Pekin. Besides, I -must go there, for it is in Pekin that I am to get news of my mother and -father. Only think, I don't even know for certain if they are alive. If -you didn't know that about your family, wouldn't you want to go where -you could find out?" - -Jo admitted that he would. - -"By-the-way," continued Rob, "speaking of families, I thought you had a -wife. Where is she? Are you going to take her with us to Pekin? Wasn't -she awfully glad to see you when you got back from America?" - -For the second time that day the young Chinese laughed. "Yes," he -replied, "I have a wife. I think she is in Canton, for that is where my -father left her when he came north. No, I am not going to take her to -Pekin. No, she was not glad to see me when I came back from America, for -she has not yet seen me." - -"If I had only known your wife was in Canton, and where to find her, I -should have called," said Rob, soberly. - -The idea thus presented was so absurd that Jo laughed again as at a good -joke, for in China no man ever calls on the wife of another. - - - - -CHAPTER XX - -ROB MAKES A STARTLING DISCOVERY - - -Finding Rob determined to go to Pekin, Jo yielded, though with many -misgivings, and at once began preparations for their dangerous journey. -Thanks to the general terror inspired by the fall of the rain-god's -head, the lads were secure from interruption so long as they remained -in the temple. Having thought over his plan the evening before, Jo had -brought with him from the city a number of things necessary to carrying -it out. Among them were shears and a razor, with which he removed -every trace of hair from Rob's head, after the fashion of the lamas or -priests of Buddha. Then his whole body, from the crown of his head to -the soles of his feet, was tinted yellow with a dye that would have to -wear off, since it never could be washed away. He was further disguised -in priestly robes of yellow, and, worst of all, was finally obliged to -give up his cherished boots in favor of sandals, which of all forms of -foot-wear he most despised. For head-covering he was given a priest's -huge straw hat, as large as a small umbrella. - -As neither of the lads was sufficiently expert in "making up" features -to change Rob's wide-open eyes into oblique slits, he submitted to -the wearing of big, round, shell-rimmed, smoked-glass spectacles, -found among the temple properties. Another thing there obtained was an -inscribed iron tablet that had hung upon the breast of the rain-god, -and to carry this to Pekin was to be the ostensible reason for their -journey in that direction. Also the silence with which Rob was to -conceal his ignorance of the northern dialect was to be explained as -being imposed by a vow not to speak a word, even in prayer, until he -had safely deposited that holy tablet in the great Pekin temple of the -rain-god. The only bit of property formerly belonging to him that he was -allowed to retain was his revolver, which, together with a belt full of -cartridges, was concealed beneath his robe. - -As their changed plan was to carry them in the very direction Jo had -announced his intention of taking before leaving the city, he decided -to maintain his character as an officer of imperial troops, escorting -the priest, rather than to assume that of a servant, as he at first -had proposed. Thus he would be able to ride horseback, carry weapons -in plain sight, and disburse money for many comforts that a priest's -servant could not obtain. - -With these preparations completed, our lads waited impatiently for -darkness, and no sooner had it descended than they set forth, exercising -great caution in leaving the temple grove, but after that travelling as -briskly as Jo could walk. The latter insisted that Rob, being unused to -sandals, should ride his pony, while he proceeded on foot until they -could beg, borrow, steal, or buy another. - -They had gone but a few li, or Chinese miles, each of which equals -about one-third of an English mile, when they heard the steady beat of -a horse's hoofs, accompanied by a grinding noise as of machinery. After -listening until he located the sound as coming from a field at one side -of the road, Jo crept softly in that direction. He quickly discovered -a horse, attached to a long, wooden beam, travelling in a monotonous -circle, and thus lifting an endless chain of earthen jars full of water -from a deep well. Each, as it came to the surface, emptied itself into -an irrigating ditch, and then went down to be refilled. All this was -simple enough, and did not particularly interest Jo, for he had seen -hundreds of just such irrigating plants in operation all over the great -plain. Heretofore, however, a prominent feature of the outfit had been -the man or boy who, armed with a bamboo whip, had kept the horse awake -and at work; but here no human figure was to be distinguished. At the -same time, there was a sound of blows, delivered at regular intervals, -each of which inspired the horse to fresh exertion. Finally, becoming -convinced that, in spite of the blows, there was no person in the -vicinity, Jo went closer to determine their origin. At the machine he -found working a scheme so practical, simple, and ingenious as to arouse -his admiration--a section of stiff but springy bamboo, and a stout -cord fixed on the beam to which the horse was attached. That was all. -Three revolutions of the beam wound up the cord and sprung back the -bamboo. At the beginning of the fourth revolution the cord suddenly was -slackened, and the liberated bamboo struck the horse a blow across the -hind quarters. Nor did these blows always descend at the same point of -the circle or at regular intervals, since their frequency depended upon -the speed of the horse, who, being blindfolded, was thus made to believe -that he was at the mercy of some constantly alert though invisible -person. - -So impressed was Jo with the ingenuity of this contrivance that he went -back to persuade Rob to come and see it. The latter did so, though -somewhat unwillingly, not caring to waste time over Chinese inventions -just then; but when he had approached close enough to the horse to -discern its markings, he exclaimed: "Hello! That's my pony! The very one -I was riding yesterday when the rain-dancers got after me. And here he -is, being made to work all night by an infernal machine. I never heard -of anything so disgusting. Here! whoa, you beast! You have done the -tread-mill act long enough, and now we'll put you to a better service." - -Thus it happened that the very ingenuity of this inventor of perpetual -motion, by which he gained a few hours of sleep, also caused him a heavy -loss; for, had he been on hand, Jo would have bought the horse from him -at his own price, while Rob would not have appeared on the scene at all. - -As no saddle could be found near the tread-mill, Jo was forced to ride -bareback until they reached a town where one could be purchased. At -this same town they slept a few hours, during which their horses also -rested and were liberally fed on beans and chopped bamboo grass. Our -young travellers were again on the road by sunrise, and after this they -pushed ahead with all speed for the greater part of a week, riding early -and late, but taking long rests in the middle of each day. - -Although as a priest and an officer of imperial troops they were -suffered to pass, without delay, many points at which any other class -of travellers would have been detained for rigorous examination, -they met with ever-increasing evidences of trouble as they advanced -northward. Everywhere they came across dead bodies, ruined buildings, -and occasionally whole villages swept by fire. Everywhere people gazed -on them with suspicion or fled at their coming. They heard of the great -Boxer army gathering near Pekin, and encountered numerous small bodies -of armed men hastening to swell its ranks. Also they came into constant -contact with prowling bands of starving peasantry. Several times, in -order to escape from the latter, our lads joined themselves to one or -another of the Boxer companies, and remained with it until the immediate -danger was passed. Then, on the plea of urgent haste, they would push -ahead. - -Finally, when thus travelling with a company who would have hacked them -to bits had they discovered their identity, they crossed the Hu-Tho-ho -(the river that goes where it pleases) and approached the walled city -of Cheng-Ting-Fu. In this city stands a Roman Catholic cathedral, built -of stone, and having a massive square tower that looms like a great -fortress above the low roofs of the surrounding temples and native -dwellings. - -In this stronghold were many foreign refugees, priests, nuns, and -Belgian engineers who had been engaged on the railway running south from -Pekin; also several American missionaries who, wounded and plundered of -everything, had gained this asylum barely in time to save their lives. - -For more than a month the great gate of Cheng-Ting-Fu had been kept -closed to all companies of friends and foes alike, only a little -wicket being occasionally opened for the passage in or out of one or -two persons at a time. In addition to this precaution, which was taken -by the Chinese authorities of the city, the foreign refugees inside -the cathedral were compelled to remain hidden behind its stout doors -for fear lest their appearance on the streets should excite the local -population to acts of violence. On the sandy plain beyond the city -wall was a large and ever-changing encampment of Boxers thirsting for -foreign blood, undisciplined soldiers, highwaymen, and outlaws of every -description. - -Upon reaching Cheng-Ting-Fu our lads, wearied by a day of continuous -riding, felt that they could go no farther that night. In fact, there -was no place for them to go to nearer than the city of Pao-Ting-Fu, -a long day's journey away, so bare had this section of country been -swept of inhabitants. At the same time, they regarded with dismay the -prospect of spending a night amid the horrors and dangers of the lawless -outside camp, where robbery and murder were committed unchecked and -unpunished at all hours of day and night. - -"We must try to get inside the wall," said Jo, in a low tone, "for if we -stay out here it is pretty certain that neither of us will live to see -another sunrise." - -With this they turned their jaded ponies towards the city gate and rode -to it, followed at a short distance by a small crowd of pig-tailed -cut-throats, who only awaited a favorable opportunity for making a rush -upon them. So desperately hungry were these wretches that they joyfully -would have killed even a priest and an imperial officer for sake of the -meagre food-supply represented by the animals they rode. - -At the gate Jo's demand for admittance was at first received with stout -refusal by a guard who gazed carelessly at the travellers from behind -a small, heavily barred opening. Fortunately, Jo still had money with -him, and a handful of silver, temptingly displayed, finally unclosed -the coveted entrance. As the wicket opened, the starving rabble, seeing -their prey about to escape them, made their threatened rush; but Jo, -leaping to the ground and calling on Rob to get the horses through the -gate, held them at bay with his revolver. Only one minute was necessary, -for the ponies, as though aware of their danger, scrambled through the -narrow wicket like cats. Rob followed close at their heels; Jo, firing -one shot over the heads of the crowd for effect, sprang after him, and -the gate was slammed shut, not again to be opened that night. - -Even now the officer of the guard, who had yielded to a silver -influence, dared not give the strangers the freedom of the city; but, -under threat of again being thrust outside, compelled their promise to -spend the night in a temple to which he would conduct them, without -attempting to leave it before morning. Also, they must not hold -communication with a soul outside the temple walls, and they must depart -from the city at sunrise. - -When Jo had given this promise in words, and Rob had assented to it by -nodding his priestly head, they were conducted to the temple selected as -their lodging under an escort of soldiers detailed to act as their guard -during the night. On their way the travellers, thus cautiously welcomed, -gazed curiously about them at the sights of the beleaguered city, and -especially at the grim walls of the great cathedral uplifted above its -houses. Especially was Rob affected by this ecclesiastical fortress, -which at that very moment was giving safe shelter to persons of his own -race. - -As they passed it he stared hard at a row of narrow windows, with the -hope of seeing an American face, but none presented itself until the -last window was reached. In it was dimly outlined the form of a woman -who turned upon the passers-by a face expressive of hopeless weariness. -She gave them one listless glance and then stepped from sight, but that -fleeting view caused Rob Hinckley to utter a choking exclamation and to -reel in his saddle until only a supreme effort saved him from falling. -He had seen his mother. - - - - -CHAPTER XXI - -THE REFUGEES OF CHENG-TING-FU - - -The malady with which Dr. Mason Hinckley had lain critically ill at -Wu-Hsing was of so strange a nature that, directly after the cablegram -calling Rob to his supposed death-bed was sent, it took a surprising -turn for the better. As he longed for a change of air and scene, and -felt that with them a full recovery of health might be effected, he -decided to resign his position at Wu-Hsing and, with his wife, travel -as far as Nagasaki. There they would meet the steamer on which, as they -had been notified by cable from America, Rob was coming to them, and the -reunited family would spend together a delightful holiday on the lovely -Japanese coast. - -So they set forth full of hopeful anticipations, and travelled down -the Si-Kiang to Hong-Kong, where they were so fortunate as to find the -_China_ on the point of sailing for San Francisco by way of Nagasaki. -At Hong-Kong they told an acquaintance who assisted the invalid to a -carriage that they were going to Japan to meet an American steamer; but -in the confusion of the moment he understood them to say that they were -going to America, and so reported to Mr. Bishop, who, in turn, repeated -the story to Rob a few weeks later. - -In the mean time, the doctor and his wife journeyed to Nagasaki, the -former so gaining strength with every mile of the voyage that upon -reaching Japan he deemed himself to be practically a well man. Thus they -were prepared to give Rob a most joyful surprise; but when, only three -days after their own arrival, the _Occidental_ steamed into Nagasaki -harbor, they were met by the bitter disappointment of finding that their -boy was not on board. From the purser, as well as from the gentleman -who had taken Rob's cabin, they learned that somehow he had missed -connection and had been left behind. After that the anxious parents -waited in Nagasaki a month, boarding every incoming ship from the -States, but without finding their boy or hearing a word from him. They -had written to Hatton immediately upon their arrival, and finally from -there came the cable message, "Rob, transport, Manila." - -What could it mean? Why had their boy gone to Manila? Where would he go -from there? Where was he now? How in the world did he happen to be on -board a transport? Had he enlisted in the army? These and a thousand -other equally puzzling questions presented themselves, but no one of -them was accompanied by an answer. They had received news of the murder -of missionaries at Wu-Hsing. Could Rob have reached there in time to -become involved in the trouble? If so, was he alive or dead? They no -longer could remain in Japan, but must return to China where news might -more readily be obtained. So they sailed for Shanghai, from which place -they sent letters of inquiry to Manila, Wu-Hsing, Hong-Kong, and Canton. - -Then ensued another month of anxious waiting, during which Dr. Hinckley, -now restored to perfect health, received from Pekin a fine offer to -become missionary medical director for the province of Shan-Si. It was -an offer that he gladly would have accepted but for his uncertainty -concerning Rob. - -At length came a letter from Canton informing the anxious parents that -their boy had been there a month earlier, but almost immediately had -joined an expedition that was to traverse the interior from that point -to Pekin in the interests of an American railway syndicate. - -Again did the puzzled parents ask each other questions concerning the -erratic movements of their son that neither could answer. Finally, Dr. -Hinckley said: - -"It is useless to worry ourselves any more about the boy, since it is -evident that he has passed entirely beyond our reach. He is in God's -hands, and that there is some good reason for the apparent strangeness -of his actions will sooner or later be made plain. Let us be thankful -that he is alive and in the same country as ourselves. Also, we now can -accept that offer from Pekin, where, as it seems, we are most likely to -meet him." - -So the bewildered but still hopeful parents took steamer from Shanghai -to Tien-Tsin and rail from there to China's capital, at that time a -wonderland of mystery to the greater part of the outside world. From -Pekin they travelled south to Cheng-Ting-Fu, which then was the extreme -terminus of railway construction, and here Dr. Hinckley left his wife, -while he should go on by horseback to Tai-Yuan, the capital of Shan-Si, -and prepare their new home. - -Then, almost without warning, came the terrible Boxer uprising, sweeping -over the northern provinces with the fatal speed of a storm-driven -prairie-fire. From every direction were heard reports of murder and -outrage--some of them simple relations of actual happenings, others -gross exaggerations based upon fact, and still others pure inventions, -but all equally terrifying to the handful of foreigners within the walls -of Cheng-Ting-Fu. A little later refugees, bearing evidence of the -terrible sufferings through which they had passed, began to straggle -in. Some told of the beheadings and burnings to death in Pao-Ting-Fu -on the north, and others of the frightful tragedies enacted in Shan-Si -on the west, by orders of the infamous governor, Yu-Hsien, credited -with being the originator of the Great Sword Society, and who was the -most vindictive hater of foreigners in all China. The Shan-Si refugees -reported that one day in Tai-Yuan this monster personally superintended -the beheading of forty-five foreigners, men, women, and little children, -besides a much larger number of native Christians; and on hearing this, -Mrs. Hinckley lost all hope of ever again seeing the husband who had -gone to prepare a home for her in that very city. Also, she mourned for -her boy, who, if he had carried out his reported intention of traversing -the interior provinces to Pekin, must have been overtaken by this same -all-devouring storm of wrath. - -Although the southern end of the railway as far as Pao-Ting-Fu was -kept open by the Chinese for the transportation of their own troops, -it was reported that everything north of that point, including the -telegraph-line, had been destroyed. Thus Cheng-Ting-Fu, with closed gate -and surrounded by enemies, was cut off from all news of the outside -world. Only rumors drifted in, and these were of such a nature that the -handful of refugees facing an almost certain death in the cathedral -believed themselves to be the only foreigners left alive in northern -China. - -Such was the state of affairs on that evening of early summer when Mrs. -Hinckley, hopelessly weary of life, happened to glance from one of the -cathedral windows just as a yellow-robed priest was passing along the -narrow street. She turned quickly away, for, of all Chinese, the priests -had been most active in persecuting foreigners, and she never saw one -without thinking that he might be the murderer of either her husband or -son. - -An hour later the "boy" who brought in her light supper of tea and toast -laid something else on the tray beside it, and disappeared without -having spoken. For a minute Mrs. Hinckley did not notice the strange -object, but finally it caught her eye, and she picked it up. It was a -narrow strip about six inches long, cut from the dried leaf of a talipot -palm, the material used instead of writing-paper in certain Buddhist -temples. Characters traced on the smooth surface with a sharp stylus, -afterwards are rubbed with lampblack, which brings them out in bold -relief. In the present case, to Mrs. Hinckley's amazement, she found the -strip of palm-leaf to be a letter written in English, and beginning, "My -own dear mother!" - -The poor woman uttered a stifled cry, and a blur so dimmed her eyes that -for a moment she could read no more. Then it passed, and she eagerly -scanned the following message, written on both sides of the slip: - -"I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw you at the cathedral window. -How did you get here? Where is father? I am the priest who rode past -on horseback with a guard of soldiers. Am safe and on way to Pekin. -They will not let me come to you, nor even leave this temple where I -am spending the night under guard. I must go on at sunrise, when they -will put us out of the city. Jo is with me. Perhaps I shall again pass -window, so please stand in same place on chance. I will come back to you -from Pekin quick as possible. Don't worry a single little bit about me, -for I am all right. Your own loving Rob. - -"Send an answer by the one who gives you this." - -Over and over did the happy mother read this message from the boy whom -she had been mourning as dead, until she knew every word of it by heart. - -Then, on a leaf torn from her journal, she wrote with lead-pencil an -outpouring of love, joy, and anxiety such as only a mother situated as -she was could write. She begged Rob to be careful, for her sake, and -warned him of the danger of going to Pekin, though she added that if -his father still were alive that city would be the most likely place in -which to obtain news of him. She said she should remain near the window -all night for fear of missing her boy when he again passed. Then the -servant came for the untouched tea-tray, looked at her inquiringly, and -she only had time to sign: "Ever your own devoted mother," fold the -note, and slip it into his hand ere he again left the room. - -The shock of seeing his mother in that dreadful place, when he had -supposed her to be safe in America, was so great that Rob had been on -the point of proclaiming his amazement aloud, when Jo, always keenly -on the watch for some such slip on the part of the pretended priest, -checked him. - -"It is but a little more to go," he said in Chinese, so that all who -heard might understand him, "and then the holy one shall find a place of -rest. He is very weary," added Jo to the officer of the guard, "and his -vow of silence sits heavy upon him." - -"Yet he does not look so old," replied the officer. - -"It is true that he is well preserved, and may give us the joy of his -presence for some years to come; but mere looks cannot restore to age -the lost strength of youth. I pray you, therefore, find for him a -place of quietness, where he may have a season of rest undisturbed." - -Thus it came about that a small building of the temple to which our lads -were conducted was set apart for them, and orders were given that no -other person should enter it that night. - -When they were alone, and Rob had explained to Jo the cause of his -excitement, he added: "And now I must go to her for a long talk." - -It took Jo some time to persuade his friend of the impossibility of what -he proposed, and that to attempt it would only endanger all their lives, -including that of his mother. - -"Then," said Rob, finally convinced, "I must write, and you must somehow -manage to get the letter to her." - -The letter was prepared with the only materials that the temple -afforded, and by the liberal use of money Jo got it sent to its -destination and had the answer brought back. After that, much as Rob -hated to leave his mother behind, he had the sense to realize that she -probably was safer in the cathedral of Cheng-Ting-Fu just then than -she would be anywhere else in north China. Also, what she had written -concerning the possibility of gaining news of his father in Pekin made -him more than ever desirous of reaching that city. - -[Illustration: "HE WAS ABLE TO GAZE CALMLY AT HER WHEN THEY ONCE MORE -WERE ESCORTED PAST THE CATHEDRAL"] - -Jo warned him against the danger of allowing any sign of recognition -to escape him in case he again saw his mother; so he was able to gaze -calmly at her the next morning when they once more were escorted past -the cathedral, and she stood at the same window watching eagerly for him -to pass. She, too, realized the danger to him of any show of interest on -the part of a foreigner; and no one could have guessed from their faces, -as they exchanged farewell glances, that thus a mother and son, with -a full knowledge of the perils besetting both, were parting, perhaps -forever. - - - - -CHAPTER XXII - -A CHARGE AND A RACE FOR LIFE - - -There is but one gateway to the walled city of Cheng-Ting-Fu, and this -opens on the west. Consequently, it was on this side that most of the -Boxer rabble, who longed for an opportunity to loot the valuable mission -property within its walls, were gathered. Their object was to starve the -stubborn city into submission, and they watched always for the opening -of its gate in token of surrender. If our lads had been willing to leave -their ponies in the city, they could have been let down from the wall on -an opposite side and made good their escape on foot. This, however, they -would not do, for without horses the long journey still before them, -through a region swarming with footpads, was practically impossible. So -they issued from the wicket, which instantly was closed behind them, -sprang into their saddles, and turned northward, hoping to ride for some -distance unnoticed in the shadow of the lofty wall. - -But this hope was doomed to a quick disappointment, for almost instantly -they were discovered, and a crowd of men were seen running so as to head -them off. - -"We've got to ride through them," said Rob, "and shoot down any one who -tries to stop us. I will go first, and do you follow close. Don't fire -a shot until my pistol is empty; then I'll drop behind and reload while -you clear the way. It's our only show for life, Jo. Come on!" - -With this Rob wheeled his pony and dashed at full speed straight at -the swarming encampment, with Jo close at his heels. It was a glorious -charge, that of two against a thousand, but it could not have lasted a -minute had the latter been anything save a wretched rabble, unprovided -with fire-arms and without leaders. As it was, they were scattered like -chaff by the madly racing ponies, the few who attempted interference -were shot down, and three minutes later our lads, still yelling with -excitement, drove through the last of their enemies and found themselves -safe on the open plain. - -"After that experience I would undertake to ride through the whole -Chinese army with twenty American cow-boys," boasted Rob, as he reined -his panting steed down to a walk. - -"Of course, it might be done," answered Jo, quietly, "only it would be -well to consider that an army is made up of soldiers provided with guns, -and that even a Chinese bullet sometimes finds its mark." - -"I beg your pardon, old fellow! It was a mean thing to say," cried Rob, -contritely. "I ought to be ashamed of myself, especially when I remember -how splendidly one Chinese, by the name of Jo Lee, rode through that -howling mob only a few minutes ago. But Americans can't help bragging, -you know, and I surely am an American." - -"If they do brag," replied Jo, "it is because they have so much to brag -of, while my poor country has so little." - -"Your country has a history older than that of any other nation on -earth," said Rob, consolingly; "and you invented more than half the -things that go to making the civilization of the world, such as the -compass, and printing, and gunpowder, and ever so many more; for -I remember our history teacher telling us about them. He said the -civilization that started in China thousands of years ago had been -spreading westward from this country ever since: first over Asia, then -over Europe, and finally over America. 'At length,' he said, 'the great -wave of enlightenment has swept across the Pacific, and again is making -itself felt on the coasts of Asia. Japan already is uplifted by the -flood, and China, now at the lowest ebb of her fortunes, will soon feel -the life-giving influence of the rising tide.' - -"I remember it particularly," continued Rob, "because, of course, I -always was interested in everything about China; but I never realized -just what he meant until I came back and saw what a splendid country -this has been and what a splendid country it could be again. Why, Mr. -Bishop said that China's wealth of coal and iron alone is sufficient to -make her one of the greatest nations of the world." - -"I expect your teacher was right when he said that China was at the -lowest point of her fortunes," remarked Jo. "I don't see how she could -very well sink any lower, and she will stay down just so long as the -Empress Dowager lives and rules the country. She hates foreigners, and -is bitterly opposed to progress, reformers, and changes of any kind. It -is certain that she is encouraging and helping on this Boxer uprising, -for if she wanted to she could have it put down and stamped out within -a week. I told you of my orders not to interfere with them, no matter -what they did, and while we were charging through that encampment just -now I caught sight of a Boxer banner on which was written: 'By Official -Decree: Exterminate Foreigners.' They never would dare display such a -flag if they didn't really have official backing, and in China to-day -the only 'official' whose word is law is the Empress Dowager." - -"I don't see how you found time to read what was on a flag," said Rob, -"or even to notice it. I didn't see a thing except the crowd, that -looked like so many wolves snarling at us, and especially those who -tried to stop us. If it hadn't been for our pistols they would have got -us sure. I only hope we didn't kill any of them." - -"Why?" asked Jo. "They were trying to kill us, and if we don't look -out," he added, sharply, "they will do it yet." - -Thus saying, he pointed over his shoulder to a rapidly advancing cloud -of dust, moving from the direction of the Boxer encampment they had so -recently charged. The dust-cloud hung above a road that ran parallel -to the direction they were taking. In fact, it was the road over which -they now would be riding had the bare fields that they had chosen -instead been covered with their usual crops. That they could not see the -horsemen raising the dust was because the highway along which the latter -were moving was a "low-way," worn by generations of travel, scoured by -floods in winter and swept by the strong winds of summer until it was -many feet below the level of the adjoining land. - -Jo was convinced that the dust-cloud was raised by horsemen, because -of its volume and its rapid advance. That they were enemies was almost -certain, since they came from the direction of the angry encampment; and -he believed them to be endeavoring to cut off Rob and himself, because -otherwise they, too, would be riding across the open fields instead of -ploughing through the smothering dust of the gully-like road. - -Our lads had allowed their ponies to walk for the last mile or so, but -now they urged them forward at a brisk "lope," for they were determined -that no man nor body of men from that encampment should get in advance -of them if they could help it. Every few seconds one or the other of -them glanced over his shoulder at the dust-cloud, to see if they were -gaining on it, and finally Rob uttered a shout of: "Here they come, -helter-skelter, and enough of them to eat us alive if they catch us! Now -we've got to make time. Great Scott! They've got guns, too!" - -The horsemen, having discovered that their object was suspected and that -their prey was likely to escape, had left the sunken road and now were -streaming across the fields in open and hot pursuit. Also, just as Rob -glanced back, one of them fired a shot, though where the bullet went to, -no one knows. Certainly, it did no harm to our friends, but the shot -itself filled them with dismay, as it showed their present pursuers to -be better armed than any of the vagrant bands they yet had encountered. - -"I believe they are imperial cavalry!" exclaimed Jo. "Yes, I am sure -of it," he added, a moment later, as he detected a triangular, yellow -pennon fluttering from a lance borne by one of the pursuing horsemen. -"They must have been sent out from the city and must have some reason -for suspecting us. I wonder if it has become known that we communicated -with your mother? That would be a sufficient cause for beheading us both -if we are caught, so we must not be." - -"I won't be!" declared Rob, clinching his teeth and urging his pony to -greater effort. "I'll die first!" - -On they swept, mile after mile, over the parched land and under a -blazing sun. How they longed for rest and water and shade and coolness; -but none of those things were for them so long as that deadly pursuit -was kept up. It did not seem to gain on them, but neither did it lose -ground. To be sure, some of the cavalry-men straggled, so that they came -on in a long, irregular line, but a group of half a dozen leaders kept -well together. - -A river came into view, and Rob wondered what would happen when they -reached it. He began to think he didn't much care so long as he could -get a drink of its water. All at once he almost jumped from his saddle, -for from beyond the river came a sound both startling and familiar, -such as he had not heard since leaving America. At Cheng-Ting-Fu he had -seen the torn-up track of the recently constructed railway, but he had -forgotten it, as he also had the fact that a portion of it, somewhere -to the northward, still was in working order. Thus, for a moment, he -could hardly believe to be real the sound that came echoing across the -Hsuho. It was the sharp whistle of a locomotive calling for brakes, and -as our lads plunged down the steep river-bank they saw a train of open -"gondolas" slowly backing towards the stream on the opposite side. They -also saw a crowd of people evidently awaiting its coming. - -For half a mile they forced their nearly spent ponies across the sand -and gravel of the dry river-bottom. Then appeared a channel so shallow -as easily to be forded. Directly from this rose the steep farther bank, -and in an effort to climb it Rob's exhausted steed fell and rolled to -the bottom, while Jo's pony refused even to attempt the ascent. - -Rob disentangled himself from the struggling beast, and gained his -feet, bruised but sound in limb. As he stood up a yell of triumph -came from across the narrow water, and a quick glance showed that the -pursuing Chinese cavalry-men were close at hand. At this same moment Jo -sprang from his exhausted pony. - -"We must run," he cried, "and mix with the people on the bank. Perhaps -we can hide in one of the cars." - -So the lads, one still in the yellow robes of a priest, and the other in -the dark-blue blouse with red facings, full trousers, and short boots of -imperial troops, dashed up the bank together and ran towards a throng -of soldiers now crowding aboard the cars, as though they, too, sought -passage on the train. - -As they began to push their way into the crowd, one of the soldiers, -staring hard at Rob, uttered an ejaculation that caused Jo to turn and -look at his friend with sudden dismay. In the haste of leaving their -ponies and running for the train he had not noticed that Rob had lost -both his priestly head-covering and the great, shell-rimmed spectacles -that had proved so complete a disguise. Now, without them, though he -still was tinted yellow and robed as a priest, there was no mistaking -him for anything but a foreigner, and "fan kwei" (foreign devil) was -what the soldier had just called him. - -Others, attracted by the man's exclamation, were turning to look, and -at the same moment came a loud shouting from the rear. Those who had -chased our lads so persistently all that morning were close at hand. - -For an instant Jo's heart sank like lead and he believed they were lost. -Then like a flash came a thought of one thing that they still might do. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII - -STEALING A LOCOMOTIVE - - -Jo's plan was communicated to Rob in a few breathless words as the -lads dashed up the track towards the head of the train. The crowd of -soldiers, not yet understanding that they were fugitives, and awed by -the sight of Jo's uniform, parted before them, only stupidly wondering -at their haste. Rob's mind instantly seized the possibilities of Jo's -suggestion, and as they ran he gasped: - -"You get aboard, Jo, while I cut it loose. Persuade the driver to start -her. Never mind me. I'll climb aboard somehow." - -Even as he spoke, Rob turned in between the locomotive and the foremost -car, which already was filled with Chinese craning their necks over -the side to see what was going on. Fortunately, there were no patent -couplers to be dealt with, and no pneumatic tubes, for on this primitive -train brakes were applied by hand, while the connections were simple -link-and-pin affairs that any one could understand. Rob pulled the pin -and scrambled across the bumpers to the opposite side of the train. -As he did so his flowing priestly robe caught and was torn from his -shoulders, leaving him fully revealed in unmistakable European costume. - -Instantly there arose a yell of "Fan kwei!" from the soldiers in the car -above him, but a sudden shot from his pistol cut it short and sent those -who were uttering it tumbling over backward in pell-mell consternation. - -The locomotive already was moving as Rob ran forward and sprang into the -cab, where he was just in time to break up a most startling tableau. -The Chinese engine-driver, with hand on the open throttle, was cowering -beneath the threatening muzzle of Jo's cocked revolver. The latter's -back was turned, and behind him, with an uplifted bar of iron, crept the -overlooked fireman. In another instant the blow would have fallen, and -the whole course of Chinese history might have been changed; but, as it -was about to descend, Rob caught the unsuspecting man by his convenient -pig-tail and jerked him violently backward, while the murderous bar -clattered to the iron floor of the cab. The next moment Rob had bundled -the fireman overboard, and the locomotive sprang forward as though -relieved of a clogging weight. - -A tremendous clamor of yells and shooting rose from behind, while half -a dozen bullets splintered the wood-work and shivered the glass of the -cab; but no one was hurt, and no one minded the fusillade except the -poor engine-driver, who was scared almost white. Rob sprang on top of -the coal in the tender and waved his pistol defiantly above his head; -at the same time shouting derisive farewells to the baffled soldiers, -many of whom were hopelessly running after the vanishing locomotive. -He remained there until these dwindled to the size of distracted ants -wandering aimlessly about a ruined hill, and then he returned to the -cab, where Jo still remained on guard. - -"I say, old man," cried the young American, speaking loudly to make -himself heard above the roar and rattle of the on-rushing engine, "this -beats anything I've struck in China yet. Isn't it the greatest bit of -luck in the world? and isn't it fun running off with a locomotive? I -never before stole anything worth speaking of, and I'm glad my first -burglary is something worth while. I don't suppose it comes under the -head of burglary, though. Perhaps we'd be called sneak thieves, only I -hardly like the sound of that, either. How would highwaymen do, or stage -robbers, or land pirates. That's it, Jo; we are land pirates who have -just captured a ship and made her crew walk the plank, and now--" - -"I'm hungry," interrupted the young Chinese, who, never having read any -pirate stories, didn't know what his companion was talking about, "and -thirsty," he added, looking longingly at the faucet of the tender's -water-tank. - -"So am I," shouted back Rob. "Make your slave there slow down a bit, for -we're in no hurry anyhow, and I'll get you a drink." - -As the speed with which they had started began to slacken, Rob suddenly -added: - -"Great Scott! There's another thing I hadn't thought of. Stop her, -quick, Jo! We've got to cut that telegraph-wire, or they'll run us off -the track at the first station. What a chucklehead I am!" - -Before the locomotive had come to a stand-still the active young fellow -was off and was swarming up a short, iron telegraph-pole near the -track. Thus it was owing to his prompt action that a hurry message at -that moment clicking into the Ting-Chow station, a few miles ahead, was -interrupted after the words, "Look out for engine; open--" Probably -the sender at Hsu River would have added, "derailing switch," and then -proceeded to give enlightening particulars of what had happened, if he -had been allowed the opportunity; but he was not, and the Ting-Chow -operator was left to think what he pleased. The latter, however, had -been warned that for some unknown reason an engine might be expected -from the south, so he side-tracked and held a train of empty cars that -was just about to proceed in that direction. Thus he left an open track -for our friends, and saved them an awkward if not disastrous meeting. - -Without knowing whether he had cut the wire in time to prevent mischief -or not, Rob returned to the locomotive, got a big, satisfying drink of -water from the tank, chucked a lot of coal into the furnace, assumed -a new disguise in shape of the cap, jumper, and overalls of the -engine-driver, which he calmly appropriated to his own use; and as the -great, swaying machine again sped forward over the shining rails he -reopened conversation with his comrade. - -"How far is the line open?" he asked. - -"To Pao-Ting-Fu, at any rate," replied Jo, "and perhaps some distance -beyond." - -"That's the worst place between here and Pekin, isn't it?" - -"Yes; the Boxers are in complete control of the city, and more -foreigners have been killed there than at any other point in this -province." - -"Then it won't be good for our health to stop there too long." - -"I should think not!" - -"How far is it from Pao-Ting-Fu to Pekin?" - -"About three hundred li." - -"That's about a hundred miles--three or four days if we have to walk it, -two days if we can steal a couple of ponies, and less than half a day if -we only could carry this old rattle-trap the whole distance," mused Rob. -Then, again speaking to Jo, he said: - -"Ask your friend what's wrong with the road beyond Pao-Ting-Fu?" - -Jo did as requested, and after a short conversation with the frightened -engine-driver reported that two bridges had been destroyed, one at Ting -Shing, about half-way between Pao-Ting-Fu and Pekin, and the other at Lu -Kow, only a few miles from the capital. - -"The first would be enough to stop us," said Rob, gloomily. "What other -damage has been done?" - -"He says not much, only a rail torn up here and there." - -"Well," said Rob, "we might as well play this game for all it is worth; -so, suppose we make the operator at the next station telegraph for a -car with a dozen or so of rails on it, and a gang of track-layers, to -be ready for us at Pao-Ting-Fu. Sign the message with the biggest name -you can think of in this part of the country; say it is a matter of life -or death to the Emperor himself for this engine to get as near Pekin -as possible in the shortest possible time. It will be an awful bluff, -of course, but bluffs sometimes work when you least expect them to. At -any rate, we won't lose anything by trying. Hello! There's a station -now, and a train headed this way on the siding. Lucky for us that it -waited here, for there's apt to be trouble when two trains meet on a -single track. I hope it doesn't mean, though, that they have heard of -our coming. You run in and do your best with the telegraph man, while I -stay here and keep this chap from getting busy. Better tell the agent, -or whatever you call him, to rush that train out in a hurry, so its -hands won't come rubbering round us for news. See if you can't pick -up something to eat, too, for I am starving. We'll run up and take in -water from that tank while you are gone. I'll make our friend here sabe -somehow what I want him to do." - -Rob's bluff worked to perfection. The waiting train pulled out the -moment they had passed the siding switch, and went on its southward way -without carrying a suspicion of anything having gone wrong. Rob got -his tank full of water without trouble, and had hardly done so when -Jo reappeared, hurrying towards the locomotive. He was followed by a -boy bearing a basket full of cooked rice and Chinese cakes. The young -officer had ordered the few employés of the station about with such a -lordly air that they had obeyed him without question. - -"Did they know we were coming?" asked Rob, as the engine again gathered -headway. - -"Yes," replied Jo. "They had received part of a message, telling them to -look out for us. Then it was cut off, and they were a good deal troubled -at not hearing a word from the south since." - -"Good!" cried Rob. "We cut the wire just in time then." - -"Yes. I told them I saw somebody destroying the line, and said I thought -he was a Boxer." - -"So I am," laughed Rob, munching a Chinese sweetcake as he spoke. "But -how about the message to Pao-Ting?" - -"Oh, he sent it off all right. That is, I suppose he did. Anyhow, he -seemed a good deal impressed by the name I signed to it." - -"What name was it?" - -"Yu-Hsien." - -"What! The governor of Shan-Si! The big man of all the Boxers! You -didn't have the cheek!" - -"I did, though," declared Jo, stoutly; "and if it don't get us what we -want at Pao-Ting, there isn't another name in all China that would." - -They were barely out of sight of the station before they came to a -bridge across a small river. Here, as the telegraph-line was strung on -it within easy reach, the locomotive was brought to a stand-still, while -Rob again tried his hand at wire-cutting. Jo leaned from the cab to -watch him, thus relaxing for a minute his close watch of their useful -prisoner. - -As Rob came back, calling out: "Let her go again, I'm aboard," Jo turned -to give the necessary order, only to discover to his consternation that -the engine-driver was nowhere in sight. In vain did they search through -the cab and its tender, in the water-tanks, and even under the coal. In -vain did they look up and down the track, at the bridge on both sides, -even staring down into the water twenty feet below them. The man had -disappeared, so far as they could discover, as absolutely as though the -ground had opened and swallowed him. - -"Well," remarked Rob, in a melancholy tone, "that beats anything I ever -experienced. We certainly have got the old wagon to ourselves now, and -the question is, what shall we do with it?" - -"I say run it," replied Jo. "I've watched him until I know how to start -and stop, and how to go slow or fast. I'll do that part if you will keep -up the fire, and I don't believe there is anything else to be looked out -for." - -"All right," agreed Rob, "go ahead. I don't like it, and I expect we -shall come to grief; but I can stand it if you can." - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV - -THE TIMELY EXPLOSION OF A BOILER - - -Greatly depressed by the unexplained disappearance of their Chinese -engine-driver, our lads, ignorant of everything connected with -machinery, set themselves the hazardous task of running a locomotive. -They got it started without difficulty, and ten minutes later were -running at tremendous speed over the level line that extended without -grade or curve as far as they could see. While Rob shovelled coal until -his back ached and his face was as black as that of a negro, Jo occupied -the engine-driver's seat and anxiously stared ahead. Neither of them -spoke, for the strain on their nerves was too great, since each knew -that at any moment they were likely to be blown up, flung from the -track, or sent plunging through some weakened bridge. They were facing -death in a dozen forms, but stuck to their posts without flinching, for -they knew that a like fate, absolutely certain, awaited the unprotected -foreigner who should be caught attempting to cross those plains on foot. - -So they drove on, mile after mile, dashing past the station of Sing Yang -without a pause or even a slow-down, and shortly before sunset came -within sight of the gray walls of Pao-Ting-Fu. - -[Illustration: "SO THEY DROVE ON, MILE AFTER MILE"] - -"Shut her off, Jo. We've done the act so far all right," said Rob, -speaking jerkily and with ill-repressed excitement. "Now comes the real -danger. What a crowd there is about the station. There's an engine, -though, with a single car attached. See! Waiting up by the tank. Perhaps -our bluff has worked! Steady! Here they come!" - -The stolen locomotive had come to a stop at the lower end of the station -platform, panting as though exhausted by its long run, and a group of -Chinese officials were hurrying to meet it. - -"Where is his excellency, Yu-Hsien?" asked one of these, peering with an -expectant air into the cab. - -"He is following on a special train," replied Jo, promptly; "but I -am his representative, sent ahead to prepare the way for him. Is the -track-repairing car ready, as the governor requested? If not he will -cause the officials of Pao-Ting to suffer the same 'bitterness' that has -gained him fame among the foreigners of Shan-Si." - -"It has been prepared according to the most noble governor's desire," -replied the official, hesitatingly, "but--" - -"Let us, then, go to it," interrupted Jo, stepping from the locomotive -as he spoke and starting up the platform. - -Rob followed him closely. As he left the cab he caught a glimpse of -a begrimed, dishevelled, and nearly naked man crawling from beneath -the tender. In an instant it flashed across him that this was their -lost engine-driver. Looking back a moment later he saw the same figure -following them. - -They in the mean time were being conducted towards the agent's quarters -in the station-house, where refreshments had been prepared for Governor -Yu-Hsien. - -"If he were but here," remarked the official spokesman, deprecatingly, -"of course, everything would be at his disposal; but we have been so -expressly ordered not to allow the passage north of any save troops or -mandarins of the highest rank, that we are at a loss how to act." - -"Am I not a representative of one of the greatest mandarins of the -empire?" demanded Jo, fiercely, "and am I not come to prepare the way -for him? Has it not already been told to your dull ears that upon his -reaching the imperial city within two days depends the very life of the -Son of Heaven?" At this august name every one present, excepting Rob, -and including the speaker himself, made a deep reverence. - -"The Emperor is no longer in danger, since the ocean-devil army has -been driven back, and now is being cut to pieces by his own invincible -troops," boasted the official. - -"What do you mean?" asked Jo. "No such news has come to the ears of his -excellency the governor." - -"It is nevertheless true that from the ships gathered off Taku bar -thousands of ocean men were landed to go to Pekin. They travelled by -the road of iron-fire, restoring the track, even as you now propose to -do. Slower and slower they moved, being beset on all sides by sons of -the Great Sword. Beyond An-Ting they could not go, for there they were -met by imperial cavalry from the South Hunting Park, and turned back in -disorderly flight. Hundreds were killed, and hundreds more are being cut -down at this moment. All their guns and banners are captured, and it is -certain that not one of them will escape alive. The ocean devils still -on their ships have threatened to fire on the Taku forts, but they dare -not do it. General Nieh has made answer that, with the firing of the -first shot, every foreign devil in Tien-Tsin and Pekin will be put to -death; for so commands an edict from the imperial city." - -"What has all this to do with us?" inquired Jo, pretending not to be at -all affected by this startling news. "The governor of Shan-Si must pass -in spite of everything. Let him be delayed by so much as the fraction -of an hour, and those whom he will hold responsible may well tremble in -their shoes." - -"Is not the man with the black face, standing by your side at this -moment, a foreign devil?" suddenly demanded the official, ignoring Jo's -threat and pointing an accusing, clawlike finger at Rob. - -"No," answered Jo, stoutly. "He is a native of the Middle Kingdom; but -he comes from the far south, where he was born. Also, he is wise in -the science of iron-fire, and has been sent on in advance of the great -governor to make safe his way. If you should harm so much as a hair of -his head, the vengeance of Yu-Hsien would be swift and terrible as that -of Heaven itself." - -"_He is yang-kwei!_" (foreign devil, northern dialect) cried a voice -from the back of the room, and Rob, turning quickly, caught a glimpse -of the begrimed engine-driver whom he had seen crawl out from under the -tender and who afterwards had followed them. - -At the same instant he, together with every one in the room, was hurled -violently to the floor, the walls of the building were blown in as -though they were of card-board, and the city of Pao-Ting-Fu was shaken -by an explosion so terrific that its inhabitants ran shrieking from -their houses into the streets. - -Some of the occupants of the station-agent's room fled from it unharmed, -while others, and among them our lads, more or less bruised by falling -bricks or tiles, crawled out from the débris and made exit more slowly. -Only one remained behind, crushed to death beneath a heavy roof-timber, -and he was the engine-driver, killed, in the very act of denouncing Rob, -by the blowing up of his own locomotive. It had been left with a roaring -fire behind its closed furnace door and very little water in its boiler. - -"Are you hurt, Rob?" - -"Nothing to speak of. Are you?" - -"No." - -"Then what do you say? Shall we take advantage of the confusion to light -out? Things seemed to be getting pretty hot for us when that blessed -old engine interrupted the proceedings." - -"What do you mean? Run away? No, indeed!" replied Jo, earnestly. "Things -are just as we want them now. Don't you remember that I was telling them -what Yu-Hsien would do if they interfered with his plans? He is the head -Boxer, you know, and just now the I-Ho-Chuan are credited with being -masters of magic. Wait till I speak to these big men." - -The official, or, as Jo called him, "the big man," who had been foremost -in examining our lads, was excitedly chattering with one of his fellows -when Jo and Rob stepped up to him. - -"You are alive and not harmed?" he gasped at sight of them. - -"Of course we are not harmed," replied Jo. "Did I not tell you that we -are the servants of Yu-Hsien? and do you think he would harm his own?" - -"Is this terrible thing the work of the great Boxer?" - -"Certainly it is. I warned you how it would be. He has killed one who -defied him, that you may have evidence of his strength; and if you still -go against his wishes your own sons will shortly erect a new ancestral -tablet." - -"It is true, most honorable one," admitted the frightened official, -humbly; "and we are not so dense but that we can learn the lesson thus -plainly stated. Tell us, then, how we can serve you, and thus appease -the wrath of the mighty Boxer, that he may not visit further destruction -upon us." - -"Give us the slight thing for which we asked: a few rails, a few -track-layers, and a fresh engine, that we may go about our work and -prepare the way for our master," replied Jo, boldly, "then shall all go -well with you and with this city of Pao-Ting, which otherwise might be -bereft of its walls by the next exhibition of Yu-Hsien's wrath." - -So superstitious are the Chinese, so dreaded were the mysterious -incantations of the I-Ho-Chuan, and so unnerved were the officials of -Pao-Ting-Fu by the explosion of a few minutes before, that they yielded -to Jo's demands. - -A locomotive attached to a car holding rails and a gang of coolies -had been made ready in anticipation of Yu-Hsien's coming. This train, -standing by the water-tank, at a distance from the scene of explosion, -had remained uninjured, and now was placed at the disposal of our lads. -They were told that for fifty li the track still was in good condition; -after that they could readily repair it with the means at their -disposal, until they came to the great bridge at Cho Chou, which had -been hopelessly destroyed. - -So our young adventurers left the officials of Pao-Ting-Fu, promising -them that Yu-Hsien should be informed of their efforts in his behalf, -and were thankfully seen to disappear in the gathering twilight. - -"Well!" exclaimed Rob, who had not spoken during all these negotiations, -heaving a great sigh of relief as they pulled out from the deadly -neighborhood. "Our bluff worked, after all. But, take it all around, it -was about as close a call as I ever want to experience." - -"Yes," replied Jo. "I never expected to be saved from sudden death by -the blowing-up of a boiler." - -That night they remained on board their new locomotive at the little -town of An-Su-Hsien, where Jo procured for each of them the red hats, -sashes, and shoes worn by Boxers. At daylight they again were under way, -and, though they were obliged to stop a dozen times to replace missing -rails, they had reached Cho Chou, only forty miles from Pekin, before -dark. Here they were able to hire horses that by late afternoon of the -following day had carried them within sight of the far-extended walls of -the great Chinese capital. Beyond the wall rolled dense clouds of smoke, -as though the whole city were on fire, while distinct above all other -sounds rose the sharp rattle of musketry, mingled with the deeper roar -of heavier guns. - -At these evidences of strife our lads drew rein and looked inquiringly -at each other. After all, was the city of Pekin a good place for a young -American and a Chinese who had befriended him to enter at that moment? - -"Yes," said Rob, at length, "I think we will keep on, only we will give -up our horses here. I don't see that we will be any worse off, in any -event, inside the city than where we are. There is fighting going on, -to be sure, but it must be between our friends and our enemies. If the -former are getting the worst of it, then they need our help; while if -the fight is going the other way, we have nothing to fear." - -"I wonder," remarked Jo, bitterly, as they moved slowly forward on foot, -"which side will prove friendly to me, or will all prove enemies of the -Chinese who has befriended a foreigner?" - - - - -CHAPTER XXV - -IN CHINA'S CAPITAL CITY - - -China's capital, the great northern city of Pekin, is situated on a -plain one hundred and twenty miles from the sea, and near the eastern -base of a low mountain-range known as the Western Hills. It is divided -into two nearly equal parts, the northern being the Manchu, or Tartar -City, while the other is called the southern, or Chinese City. The -northern city is surrounded by a vast brick wall ten miles in length, -fifty feet thick at the base, sixty feet high, and forty feet wide on -top, pierced by nine massive gateways, two on the north side, two on the -east, two on the west, and three on the south. These last open into the -southern city, which is of about the same size as the other, and also -is surrounded by a lofty wall having seven gates. In the southern city, -standing in the middle of a forty-acre park, is the great Temple of -Heaven, in which the Emperor alone may worship. - -In the centre of the northern, or Tartar City, and occupying one-eighth -of the enclosed space, is located the Forbidden City, surrounded by a -fifty-foot wall of red brick coped with tiles of imperial yellow. This -wall has but four gates, and within it are the yamens, or palaces of -high-rank mandarins, besides parks and pleasure-grounds. Inside of the -Forbidden City is yet another, known as the Imperial City, strongly -fortified, and containing the palaces, pleasure-grounds, lakes, and -lotus ponds of the imperial family. - -While Canton, in the far south, has been called the most wonderful city -of the world, Pekin is almost as remarkable, although in an entirely -different way. Canton streets are noted for their extreme narrowness, -and those of Pekin for their width, some of the latter being one hundred -feet wide. In Canton there are no wheeled vehicles and no beasts of -burden, while Pekin streets swarm with blue-covered, two-wheeled -carts, very heavy, and drawn by large, fine-looking mules, two-coolie -jinrikishas, bullock-carts, wheelbarrows loaded with passengers or -freight, pushed by one coolie and pulled by another, long caravans -of shaggy, two-humped camels, besides innumerable riding ponies and -donkeys. Also, in Pekin, may occasionally be seen the smart European -brougham, drawn by a high-stepping American horse, of some wealthy -mandarin, though most of those who can afford to ride prefer to do so -in sedan-chairs. Of these chairs, those used by members of the imperial -family are roofed and curtained in yellow, those of the higher-class -mandarins are red, those of the next lower grade are blue, and so the -descent is continued through green to black, while mourning chairs of -every class invariably are white. - -In Canton a large proportion of the houses have two stories, while in -all directions tower lofty, six-to-nine-storied pawn-shops, looking -like flat-topped grain elevators; but in Pekin all dwellings and shops, -even including the imperial palaces, have but a single story. The only -buildings in all the city that exceed this height are the pagoda-like -Temple of Heaven, the great drum-tower, the great bell-tower, the -fortified gate-towers surmounting the city walls, and certain foreign -establishments belonging to missions, legations, or business firms that -have been erected since 1900. - -Pekin is well provided with wide breathing spaces in the shape of temple -and palace grounds, and shade trees are fairly abundant throughout -the city. Most of its broad avenues are unpaved, and it is visited by -suffocating dust-storms at certain seasons of the year, while at others -it wades through fathomless mud. - -In 1897 the capital was connected with Tien-Tsin, eighty miles away, -and with the sea by rail, but the track was compelled to end two miles -outside the southern wall. In 1900 came the great Boxer uprising, the -siege of the foreign legations in Pekin, and the capture, occupation, -and terrible punishment of the city by the troops of nine foreign -powers. These retained possession for a year, during which time they -carried the railroad into the very heart of the city, largely increased -the area of legation "concessions," established a clean-swept neutral -zone three hundred feet wide around the legation territory, paved -Legation Street, built commodious barracks for the foreign troops -that were to remain as permanent legation guards, and erected handsome -legation buildings; while the United States and Germany took possession -of and will permanently control a quarter of a mile of the city wall -adjoining their legations. After a year of foreign control Pekin was -restored to its Chinese rulers, and the self-exiled imperial court -returned to their capital city. During 1903 a number of large foreign -buildings, including a European hotel, banks, hospitals, chapels, -schools, etc., were erected, and many more were projected for this year -(1904). Electric lighting on an extensive scale, as well as electric -trams, are already planned for. The Pe-Han (Pekin-Hankow) Railway, over -a portion of which our lads travelled, and which was wholly destroyed by -Boxers immediately afterwards, has been restored and the track extended -southward to the Yellow River. Beyond this construction is being so -rapidly pushed from both ends that the completion of the whole line is -promised by 1906. - -Thus China's capital, rudely roused by foreign guns from the sleep of -ages, is now awake and in a fair way speedily to take a prominent place -among the progressive cities of the world. - -None of these things were thought of, however, on that June day of -1900 when Rob Hinckley, accompanied by his stanch friend, Chinese Jo, -hesitatingly approached the great city; for at that moment it was -shadowed by the darkness of despair. The tidal wave of Boxer uprising -had reached and overwhelmed it. The I-Ho-Chuan were in complete -possession, and Pekin, with its teeming population, its accumulated -wealth of years, and, above all, with its hundreds of hated foreigners, -diplomats, missionaries, business men, and legation guards, lay at -their mercy. They had nothing to fear from imperial troops, for these, -always in sympathy with their movement, already had begun to co-operate -with them in their killing of Christian converts, their burnings and -their lootings. Bolder and bolder they became, wilder and wilder grew -their excesses, until shortly before the arrival of Rob and Jo they had -started fierce conflagrations in all parts of the city, had destroyed -two Roman Catholic cathedrals, and were regularly besieging a third -with cannonade and rifle-fire. In this great fortress, and within its -spacious, wall-enclosed grounds, ninety foreigners, forty-three of whom -were French and Italian marines, and more than three thousand native -converts had taken refuge. For sixty days this isolated stronghold -of Christianity was shelled and bombarded with cannon-ball and -rifle-bullet; but it held out to the end, and stands to-day a monument -to the heroic endurance of its defenders. The attack on it had been -begun three days before the arrival of our lads, and the sounds of heavy -firing that had so aroused their anxiety was the cannonade directed -against its walls. - -With many misgivings they skirted the southern city, which seemed a -seething caldron of riot and flame, and sought an entrance to the -Tartar City through one of its western gates. Here, to Jo's great -satisfaction, he found, in the officer of the guard who examined them, -an acquaintance not only willing to admit them, but of whom he could -ask questions. Believing Jo to feel even more bitterly than himself -concerning foreigners, this officer did not hesitate to give him the -very latest news. He confirmed the report heard at Pao-Ting-Fu of the -defeat and driving back towards Tien-Tsin of the combined American and -British relief expedition, under Admiral Seymour, told of the siege of -the northern cathedral, and, most startling of all, informed Jo of the -imperial edict, issued that very day, ordering the destruction of every -foreigner within the walls of Pekin. - -"Already," he said, "have the invincible troops of Jung Lu entered -the city, and with them are the Kwang-su tigers, under the terrible -Tung-Fu-Hsang, who thirsts for foreign blood as does a babe for its -mother's milk. To-day they are placing guns to command the legations, -and to-morrow at four o'clock, if the ocean devils have not left the -city, they will be attacked and killed like rats in their holes." - -It was fortunate that Rob failed to comprehend what the officer said, -for he could not have listened unmoved as did Jo. That the latter did so -was because he was not quite certain that he did not approve of the plan -for driving all foreigners from China. Foreigners expelled Chinese from -their countries, so why should not his people in turn expel foreigners -from China? Still, he did not express any views on the subject at that -time, but changed the topic of conversation by asking the officer if he -could tell him where his father might be found. - -For a moment the latter hesitated, and his face assumed a peculiar -expression. Then he said: "Did you not know that his excellency Li -Ching Cheng had been given a position on the Board of Punishment? It is -doubtless at the yamen of that illustrious body that you will find him." - -Thanking the officer for his courtesy, Jo and his companion took their -departure, and, making their way through alleys and the quieter streets -as remote as possible from conflagrations and all scenes of disturbance, -they finally reached the yamen of the Board of Punishment, which -corresponds to what in an American city would be a combined court-house -and jail. - -A main entrance through the street wall led to a court, reached by the -descent of several steps. This court was surrounded by low buildings, -occupied as offices of the board, and in its centre was a pond of water. -As no person of whom they could ask questions was to be seen here, -our lads passed on to a second or inner court that opened from the -first. It also contained a stone-bordered reservoir of water, and was -surrounded by fantastically ornamented buildings. In one feature that -was immediately noticeable, these low buildings differed from any other -that Rob ever had seen in China. They were provided with cellar-like -basements, divided into small compartments, from each of which a -little, grated window opened into a tiny outside well-hole. - -About one of these well-holes stood a group of half a dozen Chinese -officials, towards whom Jo made his way, intending to ask them where -his father might be found. As he drew near and was about to speak, he -glanced downward to see what so had attracted their curiosity that no -one of them had turned at his approach. What he saw was a human face, -tortured and livid, pressed against the grating, and straining upward in -mute agony. The man was supporting himself by hands clinched about two -bars of the grating, and evidently was standing on tiptoe. - -Rob, looking over Jo's shoulder, also saw the awful face, and for an -instant wondered at the black line that seemed to cut it at the uplifted -chin. Then it flashed across him that this was a line of black water, -slowly but surely rising, and that in another moment the man would be -drowned. And no one dared try to save him, even were it possible to do -so, for he was a condemned prisoner suffering one of the innumerable, -ingeniously awful forms of Chinese capital punishment. - -"What was his crime?" asked one of the fascinated spectators of another. - -"He was that member of the Tsung Li Yamen who, before circulating the -palace edict, '_Feng yang jen pi sha_'" (whenever meeting foreigners, -kill them), "dared alter '_pi_'" (kill) "into '_pao_'" (protect). - -"It is enough, and his punishment is righteous," declared the other. - -Rob did not quite understand this, but Jo did, and, seizing his -comrade's arm with so fierce a grip that the latter winced, he dragged -him from the awful scene. As they gained the street he whispered, in -choking voice: - -"From this moment I am with you and with the foreign people, until the -Empress is overthrown. Let us get to your legation." - -"Was it any one you knew?" asked Rob, not yet comprehending. - -"He was my father." - - - - -CHAPTER XXVI - -WAR CLOUDS - - -China, in her ignorant self-confidence, and goaded to desperation by -foreign aggressions, was defying the world. Not only was she killing -missionaries, together with their converts, wherever found, and putting -to shameful death such of her own people, from highest mandarin to -lowest coolie, as dared lift a hand to save them or speak a word in -their behalf, but by imperial order Chinese troops were preparing to -attack foreign ministers in their own legations. Thus China deliberately -was about to commit the gravest of international crimes. For some -time the foreign ministers, foreseeing the dangers of the apparently -uncontrollable Boxer uprising, had been calling upon their respective -governments for protection. In response an ever-increasing fleet of -war-ships was gathered off the mouth of the Pei-ho, which was as near -as they could approach to Pekin. From those ships which first arrived -a mixed force of marines, four hundred in all, and representing eight -nations, was sent to the capital to act as legation guards, and the -train that brought them was the last to reach Pekin for many weeks. - -These marines arrived on the first day of June, and forty-five of them -immediately were detailed to protect the great northern cathedral, while -twenty more were sent to the compound of the American Methodist Mission. -A week later the Empress Dowager returned to Pekin from her summer -palace in the Western Hills. From that moment the situation grew so -rapidly worse that the ministers again telegraphed the foreign fleet to -send at once a strong force for their further protection. - -In response to this urgent request Captain McCalla, the senior American -naval officer with the fleet, declared that he should start for Pekin -the next day. The British admiral, Seymour, promptly proposed to join -him, and other commanding officers entered so heartily into the project -that on the following morning, when the expedition started by rail from -Tongku, the nearest landing-point, it comprised 2066 troops. Of these -112 were Americans, 915 British, 450 Germans, 312 Russians, 158 French, -54 Japanese, 40 Italians, and 25 Austrians. - -This force, made up of sailors and marines, well provided with light -artillery and rapid-fire guns, set forth in high spirits, expecting to -reach Pekin that very night, or, at any rate, within twenty-four hours. -Nine days later saw them still twenty miles from their destination, -short of ammunition and food, encumbered with two hundred wounded men, -cut off from their base of supplies by the destruction of the railway -behind them, as well as in front, unable to communicate either with -Pekin or the outside world on account of the telegraph-line having -absolutely disappeared, while couriers with despatches were caught and -killed as fast as sent out. - -From the beginning they had been harassed by hordes of Boxers, and now -they were confronted by five thousand imperial troops, including a -strong body of cavalry, armed with modern rifles and well supplied with -artillery. Under the circumstances a farther advance was impossible, -and a retreat was ordered. At the end of another week the unfortunate -expedition reached Tien-Tsin exhausted, demoralized, and sadly depleted -in numbers, but having learned the bitter lesson that no small force -of foreigners, no matter how brave and well-armed, could traverse the -interior of China against the wishes of the Chinese. - -During the absence of this expedition the fleet of war-ships lying off -the Taku bar, at the mouth of the Pei-ho, had been strengthened by -numerous additions. The Taku forts had been captured after six hours of -fighting, and an army of ten thousand troops had advanced to the relief -of the foreign portion of Tien-Tsin, which was being besieged by Boxers -from the walled city of Tien-Tsin proper. Now the allied foreign troops -turned their attention to this stronghold and set about its capture; but -it held out for three weeks, and did not fall into their hands until the -14th of July. - -But let us return to the middle of June and the city of Pekin, where a -handful of foreigners, cut off from all communication with the outside -world, were anxiously but confidently awaiting the coming of the -McCalla-Seymour relief expedition. All sorts of rumors were afloat -concerning its progress and position, and one of these so persistently -asserted that it would reach the city by the very evening on which Rob -and Jo entered Pekin that many persons ascended the city wall near -the American legation, and remained there for hours, straining their -eyes for a sight of the expected troops. But they did not come; and -as the sun, transformed to a blood-red ball by the smoke from many -conflagrations, disappeared in the lowering west, the disappointed ones -returned to their homes doubly weighted with anxiety. - -After dinner that evening two guests sat with the United States minister -and his wife, earnestly discussing the situation. They were an American -tourist and his daughter, who, not realizing the danger of their -position, had lingered one day too long in Pekin, and then, owing to -the sudden destruction of the railway, found it impossible to leave. -The subject of their present conversation was a note from the Tsung Li -Yamen (Chinese State Department) received by the minister a few hours -earlier. It declared the situation in Pekin to have reached such a stage -that the authorities could not undertake to protect the ministers longer -than twenty-four hours from the date of the note, which also urged their -departure, under Chinese escort, for Tien-Tsin. - -"Are you going to accept that proposition?" asked the tourist. - -"Frankly, I don't know," replied the minister. "Certainly we cannot -leave within the time limit specified. It won't do for us to abandon the -missionaries, and they declare they will not desert their converts, whom -we, of course, could not take with us." - -"What means of transportation should we have if you did decide to leave, -now that the railway is no longer in operation?" - -"We have demanded carts, boats, provisions, and that a member of the -Tsung Li Yamen high in authority shall accompany us. This, of course, -is playing for delay, that we may have more time in which to hear from -Seymour's expedition. It is now four days since the last word came from -it, and we must know its position before starting. No, I don't believe -we will leave within twenty-four hours, though some of my colleagues -think differently and already are packing their effects." - -"My daughter and I will not try to carry out anything but our hand-bags, -which can be made ready at a moment's notice," said the tourist. - -"You are wise. I shall attempt to carry very little myself, and my -baggage will consist largely of state papers, which already are packed -for transportation." - -"Then you are pretty certain that we will go sooner or later?" - -"Yes, sooner or later, for the city is growing untenable. The hour of -our departure probably will be decided by the morning advices from the -Tsung Li Yamen. If no word should come from them, Von Ketteler, who -does not agree that it is necessary for us to leave Pekin, declares he -will go to them and demand satisfactory guarantees for our safety." - -"It will be a bold thing to do." - -"Yes, it will, especially as Von Ketteler recently incurred the -additional ill-will of all Boxers by personally beating with his stick -one of them whom he caught parading Legation Street in the full regalia -of his infamous society. He is a brave man, but, unfortunately, he -regards the Chinese with a contempt that will, I fear, lead him into -difficulties." - -At this moment a servant announced Lieutenant Hibbard. - -"Excuse me, sir, for disturbing you," said this individual, after he -had saluted those present, "but it seemed best to report a rather -peculiar case. Two young Chinese, wearing the Boxer uniform, have just -been arrested, and are now held by the guard at the gate. They demand -an interview with the American minister, and, curiously enough, both of -them speak English remarkably well--at least, so the corporal of the -guard says, for I have not yet seen them myself." - -"Are they armed?" asked the minister. - -"Yes, sir. That is, they were armed with revolvers, but, of course, -those were taken from them." - -"Very well, let these English-speaking Boxers be brought in, under -guard, and we will hear what they have to say for themselves--unless -this young lady objects to their presence," he added. - -"Oh no, sir; of course I don't!" exclaimed the girl, who hitherto had -listened in silence, but with intense interest, to the conversation -between her father and the minister. "I want ever so much to see a Boxer -whom I can be certain really is one." - -In another minute the prisoners, guarded by two heavily armed marines, -were ushered into the room. "Pretty tough-looking characters, aren't -they?" asked the lieutenant of the girl, by whose side he had taken a -position as though to protect her in case of trouble. - -"Yes," she replied, hesitatingly. "But do you know," she added, in a low -tone, "the face of one of them seems very familiar. I mean the one with -the queue." - -"Oh, all Chinamen look alike," replied the officer, carelessly. "I've -seen a hundred that you'd think were twin brothers of the other one, the -tougher of the two. I expect he has murdered more converts than he could -count." - -Just here the minister, who had stepped for a moment into his office, -returned, and at once proceeded to question the prisoners. - -"I am told that you speak English; who are you, and why do you come -here?" he asked. - -"Are you the American minister?" cautiously inquired the one whom the -lieutenant had indicated as being the tougher-looking of the two. - -"I am." - -"Well, then, we've come to tell you that the American and British -relief expedition you are expecting has been attacked by more than five -thousand imperial troops. It has been badly cut up, and now is in full -retreat towards Tien-Tsin." - -"Impossible!" gasped the minister. - -"It is true, sir; and if you leave this city to-morrow in the hope of -reaching Tien-Tsin you will be killed as soon as you pass the city -gates. An edict was issued from the palace to-day for the extermination -of all foreigners in Pekin, and an attack on the legations will be begun -at four o'clock to-morrow afternoon." - -"Who are you?" demanded the startled minister, "and what proof can you -give that your astounding statements are true?" - -"I am an American, of course," replied Rob, in a tone expressive of -surprise that any one should question his nationality, "and my friend -here is a son of Mandarin Li Ching Cheng, recently a member of the -Tsung Li Yamen. He was put to death a few hours since for having tried -to protect foreigners instead of killing them. My friend and I got -acquainted in the States, where he was being educated, and--" - -"His name is Joseph Lee!" cried the American girl, no longer able to -restrain herself, and springing to her feet in her excitement. "I knew I -had seen him before!" - -"But who are you, sir? What is your own name?" interrupted the minister, -sternly. - -"Hinckley," replied Rob, but not withdrawing his eyes from the flushed -face of the girl; and, speaking to her, he added: "I knew you and your -father as soon as I saw you, Miss Lorimer, but I thought that perhaps -you wouldn't care to recognize us in this costume." - -"As if any one could!" cried Annabel Lorimer. "I am sure you wouldn't -recognize yourself if you could see how horrible you look. Even now I -only recognize your voice. Should you have known him, papa?" - -"No," replied Mr. Lorimer, staring hard at Rob; "and I am not certain -that I do even now." - -"Is your first name Robert?" asked the lieutenant of marines; "and were -you ever on board the United States monitor _Monterey_?" - -"Yes, my name is Robert Hinckley. I was aboard the _Monterey_ about four -months ago, and you are Ensign Hibbard," was the reply. - -"He's all right, sir!" exclaimed the lieutenant, turning to the -minister. "I know him well, and can swear that somewhere about him he's -got a skin as white as mine." - -"Well," said the minister, his stern face breaking into a smile, "I'll -take your word for it, Mr. Hibbard, but even you must acknowledge that -its whiteness is pretty effectually concealed at present. Mr. Hinckley, -I am much pleased to meet you, especially as you must be a son of Dr. -Mason Hinckley, whom I long have counted as among my friends. But the -news you bring is of such momentous character that I must ask for -further details, even before extending to you the hospitalities of -the legation. Will you and your friend sit down and kindly tell us -everything that you know concerning the situation?" - - - - -CHAPTER XXVII - -CHINA DEFIES THE WORLD - - -The startling news conveyed to the American legation by our lads was -transmitted to all the other ministers that same night, and it at once -put an end to the preparations for departure. It was further discussed -at a meeting held the next morning, when it was determined that their -only chance for safety lay in remaining where they were and defending -themselves to the best of their ability. It had been hoped that some -members of the Tsung Li Yamen would attend this meeting, but none -appeared. The German minister, Baron von Ketteler, thereupon reaffirmed -his intention of going to the yamen and demanding a conference. -Moreover, to show his contempt for the Chinese, he declared that he -would go unarmed and unescorted, save by his official interpreter, Mr. -Cordes. - -No entreaties served to deter the brave but obstinate man from his -mad enterprise. Entering his sedan-chair, which he had furnished -with cigars and reading-matter to aid him in passing the time if he -should be compelled to wait at the yamen, he set forth, followed by -his interpreter in another chair, and preceded by a Chinese outrider -attached to the legation. - -Just before their departure the American minister had requested Rob -Hinckley, who, still disguised as a Chinese, might traverse the streets -without detection as a foreigner, to proceed to the Methodist Mission, -nearly a mile away, and warn its inmates to make ready for a speedy -retreat to the legation grounds. Jo also was asked to go out and make -special note of what the people of the city were saying. - -So the two lads set forth, going by way of Instruct the People Street, -called by foreigners Legation Street, past the Hôtel de Pékin, in which -the Lorimers were staying, and where Rob wished he might make a call. -From there they held their way eastward to Ha-ta (Great) Street, which -they found thronged with citizens and soldiery. They walked slowly up -this broad avenue, paying close attention to scraps of conversation, -until they came to Filial Piety Alley, into which they should have -turned to gain the mission compound by the shortest route. - -Instead of so doing, they hesitated, attracted by a decided and excited -movement towards the north of the swarming populace. Involuntarily, they -joined it, and continued to make their way slowly up Ha-ta Street, until -they had nearly reached the Pai-lou, or wooden arch, that spanned the -middle of the roadway, just below Tsung Pu Alley. At this point they saw -two sedan-chairs, preceded by an outrider in the livery of the German -Legation, come from the Street of Permanent Peace into Ha-ta Street, -and turn north ahead of them. As they halted in their walk and stood -watching this little procession, Jo was saying: - -"In case of serious trouble, Rob, I believe I could do more good outside -in the city than if I were to stay shut up in a legation. There, also, -I should always be an object of more or less suspicion, on account of -being a Chinese. Of course, I sha'n't leave you unless it seems best to -do so; but if we are separated, don't forget the old academy call." - -"Do you mean the 'Hi-ho' call?" - -"Yes; and isn't it queer that it should be the same as the first two -names of the I-Ho-Chuan?" - -At that instant the sharp report of a rifle rang out a short distance -up the street. For a moment it was followed by a deathlike hush. Then -pandemonium broke loose. Other shots were fired in quick succession, and -the street populace, transformed into a howling mob, swarmed towards the -scene of tragedy, yelling like demons: "Kill the foreign devils! Kill! -Kill! Kill!" - -A horseman fled before them. Two sedan-chairs were dropped by their -terrified bearers, who also took to their heels. From one of the chairs -a man leaped and ran for his life, but from the other came neither sound -nor motion. In it sat Baron von Ketteler, the Kaiser's representative -in China, shot to death by a Chinese officer of imperial troops. To-day -a magnificent memorial arch of marble spans the busy roadway above the -spot where he was killed. - -"Come!" gasped Rob, as he realized the awful nature of the tragedy. -"That shot is China's declaration of war against the world. We must warn -the mission!" - -With this our lads darted into the near-by Tsung Pu Alley. At first -their progress was impeded by people running in the opposite direction; -but in a couple of minutes these had been left behind, and they were -free to hasten on at full speed. All at once a foreigner, hatless, -haggard, and bleeding, dropped from a low compound wall into the alley -close beside them. Behind him sounded the fierce cries of a pursuing mob. - -"It is the interpreter!" exclaimed Jo. "Go with him and get him to the -mission! Take the first right and second left. I will lead those who are -after him another way. Quick! Good-bye!" - -Rob instantly comprehended, and started after the fugitive, who now was -staggering from weakness caused by loss of blood. At sight of the lad's -Boxer uniform the man tried to beat him off, but on hearing the words -in English--"It is all right! I am American"--he submitted to Rob's -guidance. - -As they hurried around the first right-hand turn they came face to face -with a Boxer armed with a spear. Without giving him time to recognize -them, our young American sprang upon him, knocked him down, took away -his weapon, and left him in a state of dazed uncertainty as to what had -happened. - -After running a little farther the fugitives paused to listen, but could -hear no sounds of pursuit. Jo had succeeded in diverting it to another -direction. Then they proceeded more slowly, the wounded man leaning -heavily on Rob's shoulder. Curious faces peered at them from dark -portals as they passed, and more than one whom they met turned to give -them a wondering look; but Rob's uniform and spear protected them from -interference, and finally they reached a side gateway of the mission -compound. Here the wounded man fell in a faint, but the American marine -on guard sprang to his aid, and, recognizing in Rob's voice that of a -fellow-countryman, assisted him to carry the German inside. - -"Call your officer, quick as you can," ordered our lad, as he knelt -beside the wounded man and dashed water in his face. "It is a matter of -life or death for us all." - -In another minute Captain Hall came running to the post, and in a few -words Rob explained who he was and what had happened, at the same time -exhibiting a proof of identity given him by the American minister. - -"He sent word," continued Rob, "for all foreign inmates of this compound -to pack up immediately and be prepared to retreat to the legation at a -moment's notice. Now I will leave this wounded man in your care, for I -must hurry back and let him know what has happened. Can you let me have -one of your men to identify me at the Italian barricade across Legation -Street? If I go alone I am afraid they won't let me pass, for they were -ugly and threatened us when we came out." - -"Certainly. Turner, go with Mr. Hinckley, and see him safely past the -barricade." - -"This is a rum go," said the marine, as they left the gate and -hurried towards Ha-ta Street. "I've done a lot of funny things in the -Philippines, and seen a lot more in China, but I'm blessed if ever I -expected to safe-conduct a bloody Boxer through the streets of Pekin." - -"Perhaps he is safe-conducting you," replied Rob, indicating, as he -spoke, a group of Chinese soldiers wearing red Boxer hats, who were -regarding the marine with very ugly looks. - -"I don't know but what you are right," admitted Turner. "They do look -wolfy, and I almost wish I had another pukka Johnny along to come back -with me." - -"I'll come back with you if you will go all the way to the legation with -me." - -"Done! The cap'n didn't say how far I was to escort you. He only said, -'past the barricade,' and maybe there's more than one by this time. But -what's the matter with riding? We'd get there twice as quick. Hi, there, -'rikisha coolie. You wanchee catchee one piecee dollar? You makee go -ossoty Melican consoo house. Savvy?" - -"All litee sojo man, can do," was the reply; and a big, double -jinrikisha, drawn by two coolies and pushed by two more, rolled up to -where the Americans were standing. Even on the eve of open hostilities -the thrifty Chinese of Pekin were perfectly willing to make an honest -dollar by serving their enemies. - -Jumping in, they set off at a great pace, the 'rikisha men yelling -at the top of their voices for pedestrians to clear the way, and not -hesitating to knock right and left those who failed to heed their -warnings. - -Acting on Turner's advice, Rob took off his red hat, and, sitting as -low as possible, was partially screened from observation by the marine, -who held himself very straight and sat well forward. The guard at the -Italian barricade made a motion as though to halt them, but Turner, -yelling to his coolies to keep on or he would jab them with his bayonet, -called out: - -"It's all right, Dagoes! Official business! Can't stop! So long! See you -later!" - -Then they bowled up Legation Street at a rattling pace, clattered over -the imperial canal bridge, and in another minute were at the American -Legation. Five minutes later the electrifying news of Baron von -Ketteler's assassination had been told. - -"That settles it!" cried the minister, who was a veteran soldier of -the great American civil war. "Now we know exactly where we stand. -The Chinese have declared for war, and they shall have war to their -hearts' content. As for us who are in Pekin, we will stay right here -and fight for our lives. If we are wiped out, the Chinese nation will -cease to exist shortly afterwards. Even if we survive to be rescued, -the punishment visited upon it for this day's crime will be one of the -bitterest in history. But now we haven't a moment to lose. Are you -willing to return to the mission with an order for its inmates to set -out for this place within half an hour?" - -"Of course I am, sir," replied Rob. - -"Then go, and come back with them. I will at once notify the German -Legation of this terrible happening, and advise that they send a squad -of marines to bring back their wounded interpreter. God bless you, lad! -I am glad to have you with us in this time of our trouble." - -"And I, sir, am mighty glad to be here." - -In less than an hour after Rob's report to the minister a long -procession of refugees issued from the mouth of Filial Piety Alley, and -turned into Ha-ta Street, where it was watched by crowding thousands of -impassive Chinese. First came twenty American marines, hardy-looking -fellows, bronzed by long service in the Philippines, under command of -Captain Hall. These were followed by the American women and children of -the mission and one hundred and twenty-six Chinese girl pupils of the -mission school. Then came Chinese Christian women with their children, -followed by a large body of Chinese men and boy converts. After them -marched a stern-looking group of German marines, bearing and guarding -a stretcher, on which lay the wounded legation interpreter whom Rob -had been so instrumental in saving. The rear was brought up by a body -of resolute-appearing missionaries armed with rifles and revolvers. -With these marched Rob Hinckley, no longer disguised as a Boxer, but -clad in the costume of his own people, and bearing himself with the -self-confidence of one who had undergone a long experience in affairs -like the present. The Chinese converts numbered over one thousand, and -every member of the long procession was laden with food, clothing, -household effects, or whatever portable things they had considered of -greatest value. - -At the Italian barricade on Legation Street it was met by the remaining -marines of the American guard and escorted to the legation. Although -the streets were crowded with Chinese soldiers, Boxers, and citizens, -no attempt was made to interfere in any way with the flight of these -refugees, and that afternoon they were quartered within the spacious -walls of the British Legation compound, where all foreigners, except -those already sustaining attack in the Roman Catholic cathedral, were -gathered for protection. - -Here was a scene to beggar description. Streams of carts, and swarms -of coolies laden with provisions, baggage, and household effects, were -pouring in from every direction. The numerous low, one-story buildings -of the legation were being assigned to different nationalities, or -set apart for specific purposes. Men, women, and children, diplomats, -soldiers, missionaries, railway engineers, bank clerks, customs -employés, servants, and coolies, speaking every language under the sun, -dogs and ponies, rapid-fire guns, jinrikishas, carts, and wheelbarrows, -furniture, bedding, provisions, cases of wine, barrels of beer, and -a thousand other things, all were mixed in apparently inextricable -confusion. - -At precisely four o'clock General Tung-Fu-Hsang's soldiers from Kwang-su -opened fire with a sharp volley of musketry from the city streets, and -the siege of the Pekin legations was begun. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVIII - -FIGHTING SIXTY FEET ABOVE GROUND - - -Although the heavily walled compound of the British Legation, which -during the siege sheltered four hundred foreigners and as many more -Chinese Christians, or nearly one thousand persons in all, was the -stronghold of the defence, the lines occupied and held embraced a wide -outside area, both to the eastward and on the south. Beyond the imperial -canal, just east of the legation, stood an extensive collection of -buildings enclosed by a wall, forming the yamen, or palace, of Prince -Su. On the first day of the siege this was seized and occupied as -quarters for the hundreds of school-girls and native Christians whom the -missionaries had refused to abandon. It was defended by the Japanese, -assisted by the Italian and Austrian marines, and though it was subject -to many fierce attacks and an almost continuous bombardment that set its -buildings on fire a dozen times, it never was given up. - -Besides this outpost, the American, Russian, German, Japanese, and -French legations also were held, as was the Hôtel de Pékin of M. Charnot -and his brave American wife. It was strongly fortified with sand-bags, -and sent out to its guests, who had taken refuge in the British -Legation, three meals a day with unbroken regularity during the siege. -A large portion of Legation Street also was included within the foreign -lines. On it stood a grain-shop, in which were found eight thousand -bushels of wheat and several tons of rice, together with eleven one-mule -mills, ready for grinding. As there were in all some three thousand -persons to be fed, this food supply proved invaluable. - -At first an Austrian captain, named Thomann, by virtue of seniority, -assumed command of the defending force; but on the second day of the -siege, he having proved himself incapable, the supreme command was, by -unanimous consent, given to Sir Claude Macdonald, the British minister. -Captain Thomann was killed a few weeks later during an attack on the Su -Yamen, and now one of the streets of Pekin bears his name. - -Under Sir Claude's intelligent supervision all the details of housing -and feeding three thousand people, of preparing and placing fifty -thousand sand-bags, of hospital and sanitary arrangements, and a -thousand other things, were quickly systematized and placed in the hands -of carefully selected committees. The work of fortifying the legations -was given over to a young American missionary engineer, while the actual -duty of defence was distributed according to nationality. - -The British Legation compound, including the northwest angle of the -whole line, was left to the resident inmates--ministers, attachés, -missionaries, etc. The Su Yamen and northeast angle were intrusted to -the Japanese, aided by Italians and Austrians. At the southeast angle -were French and Germans, the latter occupying a section of the great -city wall, from which, however, they ultimately were driven. On the -southwest were the Americans and Russians, in their own legations, with -the former holding their own section of city wall. This position, in -spite of continuous shelling and repeated assaults, was held by American -marines to the end; and, commanding, as it did, the entire legation -area, it proved the key to the situation. - -On the 1st of July, or after ten days of siege, during which time the -Chinese fire of rifle-bullets, solid shot, and shell had been maintained -almost without intermission from one quarter or another, thirty-five of -the defenders had been killed and nearly twice that number were in the -hospital. The Germans had been driven from their section of the wall, -the French Legation had been destroyed, and several sorties, made for -the purpose of capturing or at least silencing certain particularly -annoying Chinese guns, had proved unsuccessful. In all this time no news -had been received, nor had it proved possible to send any out; and it -was not probable that the desperate plight of the Pekin legations was -even known to the outside world. - -The bright spots in this gloom were that there still was plenty to -eat and to drink within the lines, the defences were constantly being -strengthened by additional sand-bags, which the ladies and Chinese -women were turning out by the thousand, the plucky Japanese still held -the Su Yamen, and American marines still maintained their position on -the wall. Also, very early in the siege the latter, dragging their -Colt's automatic gun up to their elevated post, had made a raid along -the top of the wall for a quarter of a mile, driving the Kwang-su troops -in wild confusion before them, and mowing them down by hundreds. - -Now, however, the Chinese, profiting by this sad experience, had -advanced a series of brick and sandbag approaches, against which the -Colt proved ineffective. At the end of the last one the Chinese had -erected a small tower, only a few feet from the American barricade, and -commanding it. From this, while protected against a return fire, they -hurled down huge bricks upon the defenders, who were unable to reply. -At the same time the American position, isolated since the Germans on -the east had been driven from their wall, was exposed to a galling fire -from both directions. The situation thus had become critical in the -extreme; for, if the Chinese could succeed in forcing this position, the -legations would lie at their mercy. - -The top of the wall at this point was reached from the inside by two -ramps, or sloping walks, that led upward like the two legs of a letter -A. One of these was controlled by the Americans, whose barricades were -at its upper end, while the other was in possession of the Chinese. - -From the outset Rob Hinckley had cast his lot with the American -marines, largely on account of his liking for Turner, the sharp-shooter, -whose acquaintance he had made on that first memorable day of the siege. -On the morning of July 3d these two had come down from the danger post -for a much-needed rest after a forty-eight-hour tour of duty on the -wall. At sunset they were to return to the almost untenable barricades. -In the mean time, they slept like logs until late in the afternoon, when -they were awakened to partake of a meal of cold boiled mule "beef," -rice, hard bread, and tea. - -"Look here, young man," said Turner, pausing for a moment in his hearty -eating, "I don't see why you should go up on that old rockery again -to-night. You ain't 'listed, and don't have to." - -"I have to just as much now as I did at first," replied Rob, quietly, -"and you didn't say anything against it then." - -"Things have changed. We seemed to have some show then, with the Germans -to look out for one side; but we haven't any now, and I don't see how we -can hold the place through another night. You've noticed that the Chinks -always get busier at night than in the daytime, and now they are right -on top of us." - -"The only wonder to me is that they haven't cleaned us out long since," -said Rob. "They certainly have fired shots enough to destroy an army, -let alone a couple of dozen men, which is as many as we ever have had up -there at one time." - -"It is a funny business," admitted Turner, "and I have puzzled over -it a good deal myself. Do you know what I think? I believe that heavy -firing from the Ha-ta tower is all a bluff and is mostly done with blank -cartridges. If it isn't, we ought, by rights, to have been swept off -the wall like puff-balls in a gale, long ago. There's another thing. It -looks to me as if about nine out of every ten of the Chinks' rifle-shots -must be fired straight up in the air, same as we kids used to do on -Fourth of July. At night, when they fire most, I believe they all shoot -into the air, 'cause you never hear of anybody getting hit at night, and -they sure shoot to beat the band. Looks like they were only trying to -scare us or kill us by keeping us from sleeping--I don't know which." - -"Speaking of the Fourth of July," said Rob, "do you remember that -to-morrow is the Fourth?" - -"Sure, and I'm wondering if I'll live to see it. Somehow I don't feel as -if I would." - -"Oh, pshaw! Don't talk that way!" exclaimed the young volunteer. "You'll -live to see it, and plenty more like it, only a heap happier. I felt -blue myself this morning, but now, after a day's sleep and a good -stuffing of mule, I feel all right." - -At this point the conversation was interrupted by the entrance of -Lieutenant Hibbard, who said: - -"Well, boys, we are in for it! Word has gone out that we've got to -capture those barricades to-night and sweep the wall clean as far as the -Chien Men gate. There's a squad of Tommies going up to help us, and if -we don't do the trick this time I am afraid it will be all up with the -whole shooting-match. Of course, Hinckley, you don't have to go unless -you choose." - -"Of course I do have to go, Mr. Hibbard!" cried Rob, hotly. "I should be -too ashamed ever to call myself an American again if I didn't; and if we -don't carry those barricades I hope I'll never come down again alive. -What time do we start?" - -"Orders are to assemble on the wall as soon as it gets dark enough to go -up the ramp unnoticed." - -"All right, sir, we'll be there," said Turner, "and I _know_ I'll never -come down again alive if we don't get the Chinks on a run. We have got -it to do, that's all." - -An hour later, in the dusk of evening, a little group of twenty -Americans and as many British marines, all of them picked men, crouched -on the lofty wall listening to the earnest but low-voiced words of -Captain John Meyers, U.S.M.C., the gallant officer who was to lead the -charge that would mean life or death to every foreigner then in the city -of Pekin. He did not speak more than a minute, but what he said filled -every man who heard him with the spirit of a hero. When he had finished -he leaped the barricade and started down the wall, with every man of his -little party striving to gain his side. - -The Chinese tower, from which they had been so harassed, went down like -a card-house before their on-rush. A scattering volley of rifle-shots -came from the barricade, but the Chinese were too completely taken -by surprise to make a stand; even the Kwang-su savages, who never -before had known defeat, fled in dismay before that charge of yelling -Americans, whose rifles seemed to pour forth a continuous and -inexhaustible stream of deadly fire. The Chinese fired a few shots, -hurled a few spears, and then ran for their lives, darting from one -barricade to another, but never allowed to pause, until such of them -as were left alive gained the safe shelter of the Chien Men tower, a -quarter of a mile away. - -[Illustration: "THE SAVAGES FLED IN DISMAY BEFORE THAT CHARGE OF YELLING -AMERICANS"] - -As the jubilant Americans streamed back towards their own barricades, -where ten of their number had been left on guard, Rob Hinckley, proudly -bearing a Chinese banner that he had captured, gave utterance to his -joyful excitement in the old academy yell with which Hatton boys -announced their victorious return from hard-fought ball-games. "Hi-ho! -Hi-ho! Hat-ton Hi-ho!" he shouted, and to his amazement the same call -came back like an echo from far beneath him in the underlying southern -city. "I wonder if it can be Jo!" he thought, and shouted again; but -this time there was no reply. - -There were no dead Chinese, nor any wounded, for a detachment of Russian -marines, who had charged up the Chinese ramp after the Americans and -British had swept by its upper end, had followed them, pitching every -dead or wounded Chinese whom they discovered over the parapet and down -into the southern city. When these Russians met the returning victors -they reported that they had found two dead Americans and carried them -back to the barricades. - -This news suddenly quieted Rob Hinckley's jubilant shoutings, for -instantly he recalled Turner's foreboding, and realized that he had -not seen nor heard him since that first mad scramble over their own -barricade. Now he shouted: "Turner! O Turner!" but there was no answer, -and when they reached the American post his worst fears were confirmed. -Turner and another marine, named Thomas, had been shot and instantly -killed in the brief space between the two barricades. Here, too, had -Captain Meyers received a spear wound that he disregarded until the -affair was ended. Then it sent him to the hospital, where he remained -for weeks. One of the British marines was found to be slightly wounded, -as was one of the Russians; but these were the only casualties that the -legation defenders were compelled to pay for the most important victory -of the entire siege. By it they had gained a clear quarter of a mile of -wall that they never afterwards gave up, and which remains to this day -American Legation territory. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIX - -JO HEAPS COALS OF FIRE - - -Turner, crack shot of the American marines and one of the best men in -the corps, was buried. Rob laid a wreath of flowers, twined by Annabel -Lorimer, on his coffin, and then went back to the wall, where he was on -guard duty at the eastern barricade. A drizzle of rain had fallen since -early morning. The Fourth of July of 1900, as celebrated by Americans in -Pekin, had not been a particularly happy or enjoyable day. - -When Rob relieved the man who had taken poor Turner's place on guard, -the latter said: - -"There's some chap down below there in the southern city who has -bothered me a good deal. He keeps calling out, 'I-ho!' or something of -that kind, every few minutes, and has been at it for more than an hour; -but I can't get a sight of him or even locate him." - -"Like this?" asked Rob, at the same time leaning over the parapet and -uttering clear and loud the Hatton Academy call. - -"Yes, that's exactly it," answered the marine. "How did you know? There -he goes now--" - -The answer had been prompt, but still no one likely to have given it -could be discovered. While they watched and speculated a Chinese arrow -came flying up from some unseen bow, and fell on the wall just within -the barricades. - -"It was only a trick to get a pot shot at us!" exclaimed the marine, -disgustedly; but Rob picked up the arrow, wrapped around which he found -a sheet of thin paper. It was, as he had hoped, a note from Jo, that -read as follows: - - "DEAR ROB,--Don't worry. Everything will come out - right side. You have plenty friend in Pekin, among them Prince - Ching, who tells that the spirits of air are protect you, and - orders them fired at. I have fire-gun at Ha-ta tower, but only - blank cartridge. Make plenty noise, and all body is please. Many - big gun cannot be use, for fear shoot over and kill Chinese on - other side. Now say can starve you out. If you want send letter - Tien-Tsin, drop it over wall same place to-morrow, sun dark, and I - take it." - -From the foregoing it will be seen that Jo's ability to write English -was not equal to his conversational fluency in that same tongue; but his -letter was readily understood, and gave great satisfaction to the few -persons in authority among the defenders, who shortly afterwards were -made acquainted with its contents. - -Repeated efforts had been made to get news of their situation to the -outside world, but thus far all the messengers had been captured or -turned back. Now, with renewed hope a despatch, descriptive of the -situation in Pekin, and imploring speedy relief, was prepared and given -to Rob Hinckley for transmission. - -At sunset he again stood at the appointed place on the parapet, and with -the first gathering of dusk a low but distinct call of "Hi-ho!" came up -to him from the dark shadows at the foot of the lofty wall. His tiny -message, folded in oiled silk and weighted with a bit of brick, already -was attached to a thread, by which it was promptly lowered. Then came a -slight jerk on the thread, and he pulled up the broken end to satisfy -himself that the little packet really had been taken. - -After this incident the siege dragged wearily on, with frequent -skirmishes and constant firing on both sides, but with no decisive -advantage to either. The death-list received almost daily additions, -and the hospitals became filled to overflowing. To the heats of the -summer season were added flooding rains that necessitated a constant -repairing of washed-down defences. Thus weary days lengthened into -tedious weeks, and the weeks formed themselves into an unbroken month -of siege, before anything hopeful happened. Then came a white flag from -the Tsung Li Yamen, with a note signed "Prince Ching and others," asking -for a cessation of firing that negotiations for the departure of the -foreigners might be renewed. - -This proposition being accepted, active hostilities on both sides were -suspended for a period of three weeks. During this interval the inmates -of the legations were as closely confined to their lines as ever, and -hardly a day passed without more or less rifle-firing. - -In all this time there was no word from Jo, nor any proof that the -precious message intrusted to him ever had been delivered. There were -rumors, filtering through Chinese sources, that Tien-Tsin had been -captured, and that a great foreign army was marching towards Pekin; but -these rumors could not be verified, and as firing on the legations, -especially at night, was again begun, the situation appeared more -hopeless than ever. - -Shortly before daylight, on the 10th of August, a furious fire was -directed against the legations, beginning at the southwest, or Russian -corner, and rapidly extending around the entire circle. While it was in -progress, Rob Hinckley, who again was stationed on the wall, thought he -heard the signal cry of Hatton Academy coming from the direction of the -Ha-ta watch-tower. The noise of the cannonade and the rattle of musketry -were so tremendous that he could not be sure, but he ventured an -answering cry, and then breathlessly listened. Yes, there it was again, -not loud, but distinct, and apparently close at hand. Rifle-bullets from -the Ha-ta tower were sweeping the wall and thudding against the tough -bricks of the shelter behind which crouched the Americans. - -"Don't shoot, men! I am going out!" cried our lad. As he spoke he leaped -the low barricade and ran to the outer parapet, from which the call had -seemed to come. - -"Jo!" he shouted. "Jo! where are you?" - -"Here I am, Rob," came in feeble tone, and in another moment the young -American had found his friend crawling weakly in the partial shelter of -the parapet, but at the very end of his strength. - -Somehow Rob got him behind the barricade, where he lay panting. - -"What is it, old man?" cried his friend, bending anxiously over the -exhausted and pitiably emaciated figure. "Are you sick, or wounded, or -what? Did you get through to Tien-Tsin? Are troops on the way?" - -Jo's eyes were closed, and he barely breathed; but his lips moved, and -Rob caught the whispered words: - -"Army most here. Look, leg bandage, Rob, dear friend--" - -That was all, and Chinese Jo never spoke again. The last great, -self-imposed duty of his life had splendidly been performed, but at what -expense of suffering never can be known, for in the turmoil of the days -immediately following his heroic death he was forgotten. Afterwards -General Gasalee, commanding the relieving army, could only say that he -had given several despatches to as many messengers, with the hope that -at least one of them might be got through. The one borne by Jo was found -hidden in a blood-stained cloth bound around one of his legs. It was a -brief note from the commanding general, stating that an allied force -of twenty thousand men, British, American, Japanese, and Russian, were -fighting their way towards Pekin, and making such steady progress that -they expected to be at Tung Chou, only twelve miles away, on the 12th, -and to reach the capital by the 13th or 14th. - -This, the first reliable news received from the relieving army, was -hailed with extravagant joy by the long-imprisoned inmates of the -British Legation, and for hours the bulletin-board on which it was -posted was surrounded by a dense throng of all nationalities, many of -whom could not read English, while some could not read at all, but all -anxious to see the blessed words that promised them speedy safety. - -The story of Chinese Jo's bravery was told from mouth to mouth until all -knew it; and when, that evening, his poor, emaciated body, covered with -mute evidences of his sufferings in the form of livid scars and unhealed -wounds, was laid to rest in the legation grounds, his funeral was the -most largely attended of any during the siege. Although it was not a -military funeral, the guns of his own countrymen, firing upon those he -had given his life to save, thundered a requiem alike for him and for -the dying era of Chinese national life that was about to close. - -Again Rob Hinckley and Annabel Lorimer stood together at an open grave, -and as they turned away at the conclusion of the simple but solemnly -impressive ceremony of committal, the latter said, with tear-choked -voice: - -"I think he was the bravest boy I ever knew." - -"He certainly was," replied Rob, "and also he was the best friend I ever -had." - -When Sir Claude Macdonald first read the welcome despatch from General -Gasalee, and at the same time heard that its bearer was dead, he -exclaimed: "What a pity he could not have lived to take back a plan of -the city walls, showing the best place of entrance!" - -A little later this regret became generally expressed, but it did not -reach Rob Hinckley's ears until the day after Jo's funeral. Immediately -upon hearing it, he went to the American minister and offered his -own services as a messenger to convey any desired information to the -approaching army. - -At first the minister refused his consent. "The southern city, as -well as the country between here and Tung Chou, is crowded with the -enemy," he said, "and for a foreigner, or even for a native messenger, -to attempt a passage through them would be to court an almost certain -death." - -"My friend gave his life for us," replied Rob, simply, "and he was -a Chinese who had been badly treated by Americans. What he did any -American ought to be willing to do. Besides, I believe I can get -through. He taught me how to travel in China as a Chinese, and now, if -ever, is my chance to profit by his lessons. Please let me go, sir. -If I am killed, it will only be one life lost; if I get through, the -information I can give about the water-gate may save thousands of lives." - -That night a Chinese beggar, apparently old and on the verge of -starvation, clad in the filthiest of rags, and with a scanty, unkempt -queue coiled in slovenly manner about his half-shaven head, hobbled, by -aid of a stick, towards the low water-gate, under the Tartar City wall, -that carried off the surplus water of the imperial canal. This gate -nominally was closed by iron bars, and in times of flood was impassable; -but now there was little water flowing through it, and it was only -choked with black mud. Above it was that section of the city wall held -by American marines. - -Fumbling in the darkness of this almost-forgotten water-gate, the beggar -found a bar so rusted and worn by age that he could force a way through. -When he emerged on the other side of the wall he was covered with black, -vile-smelling mud. It rendered him so disgusting an object that even a -Chinese could not tolerate his presence, and, whenever he approached one -with a whining plea for alms, he was driven away with blows and curses. -Thus he wandered on from group to group, through many streets, until he -came to a gate in the eastern wall of the southern city that was guarded -by a troop of Chinese cavalry. These amused themselves by teasing him, -until, at length, one of them, tired of the sport, said: - -"Oh! Put him outside, and let the old bag of bones go to the foreign -devils. They will stuff him full of bullets and make him fat." - -So the gate was opened a little way, and the beggar was thrust through -it at the points of a dozen spears, some of which pricked him cruelly. -Thus driven from the city, he continued his way, walking more strongly -now than he had before, over the great stone road leading to Tung Chou. - -With sunrise there was borne to his ears the startling sounds of heavy -firing in the east, the boom of field-artillery, the rat-tat-tat of -machine-guns, and the sharp, volleying crash of musketry. Then came the -roar of a heavy explosion, and he felt the earth tremble as though from -a distant earthquake. Fugitive Chinese soldiers, many of them wounded, -began to appear and hurry past him. A little later, as they threatened -to throng the highway, he withdrew to a cluster of ruined mud-huts -marking the site of an abandoned village. Here, desperately weary, he -flung himself on the ground, and almost instantly fell asleep. An hour -or two afterwards he awoke and cautiously peered from his shelter. The -highway was deserted, and, regaining it, he again pressed on towards -Tung Chou. - -At length, the city wall was so close at hand that he could hear -bugle-calls sounding beyond it. As he eagerly listened to the familiar -notes, a rifle-shot came, without warning, from a ruined village similar -to that in which he had rested. The beggar was spun half-way round, and -felt a stinging sensation in his right shoulder. A moment later half -a dozen Japanese soldiers, forming a scouting party, sprang from the -ruins and ran towards him, laughing at the sorry figure he cut. One of -them drew a pistol and was about to put him out of the misery indicated -by his appearance, when, to their amazement, he shouted to them in a -language that they knew to be English: - -"I am American! Take me to General Chaffee!" - -After a parley he managed to make them understand, and shortly -afterwards he stood in the presence of the stern-featured, keen-eyed -American commander. - -"Well, sir! Who are you? What do you want?" demanded the general. - -"I have just come from Pekin with this plan of the walls, sent by the -American minister, and my name is Robert Hinckley," was the reply. - -The words were hardly uttered when an officer, who had been writing -in another part of the room, sprang to his feet and confronted the -disguised lad with incredulous eyes. - - - - -CHAPTER XXX - -THE CAPTURE OF PEKIN - - -Captain John Astley, of Z Battery, Light Artillery, U.S.A., had thought -often of the lad who had crossed the Pacific with him, and when he -received the order to proceed with his battery to China he wondered -if, by any chance, he should again meet his young friend. In the rush -of events that followed Rob was quite forgotten, until a strange -coincidence brought his name so prominently to the front that it was -mentioned almost daily. Captain Astley even hoped to find the lad in -Pekin, and had anticipated the joyful recognition that would accompany -their meeting. Now, therefore, as he sat writing in General Chaffee's -temporary headquarters, near the Tung Chou gateway, blown up by the -Japanese that very morning, the name uttered by the Chinese beggar under -examination instantly attracted his attention. - -"I beg your pardon, general," he said, "but this person has just -mentioned a name well known to me. Have I your permission to question -him?" - -"Yes; question all you please," replied General Chaffee, who already was -absorbed in the plan of Pekin walls and the accompanying description of -their weak points that had so opportunely come to him. - -"Can you possibly be the Rob Hinckley who crossed the Pacific to Manila -in the transport _Logan_ last March?" asked the artillery officer, -eagerly, of the wretched-looking figure that, trembling with weakness, -stood before him. - -"I am, sir; and you are Captain John Astley, of Battery Z," was the -reply. - -"Good Heavens, Rob! It seems impossible; and it is absolutely incredible -that any human being could be so completely disguised and so utterly -changed. How in the name of--? But I won't ask a question, though I am -nearly choked by a thousand that are clamorous for utterance. There is a -dear friend of yours somewhere outside, and I must bring him in, so that -all of us may hear your story together. General--" - -Here the speaker said a few words to the commander in so low a tone that -Rob could not catch them, and hastily left the room. - -In less than a minute he returned, accompanied by an excited but -puzzled-looking gentleman, clad in semi-military uniform, who, hastily -saluting the general, turned immediately to where Rob still was standing. - -"Here he is, my boy!" cried Captain Astley, exultingly. "Your own daddy! -We found him in Shanghai fretting his life out over his lost family, and -brought him along as battery surgeon. But, hello! What's the matter? Why -don't you rush into each other's arms? Do you need an introduction?" - -Father and son were staring curiously at each other. - -"Is it possible that you are my own little Rob?" gasped the former. - -"Are you really my father?" interrogated Rob, gazing doubtfully at the -white-headed man who now was said to be the same young, dark-haired -parent that had bidden him farewell in America years before. - -"If you are Rob," continued Dr. Hinckley, huskily, "tell me what has -become of my wife--your mother. Is she alive or dead?" - -"She is alive and safe in Cheng-Ting-Fu." - -"Thank God! Thank God!" cried the overjoyed man, with tears rolling down -his cheeks. "But, Rob--Good Heavens!" - -With this he sprang forward and caught the lad, who was tottering -and evidently about to fall. Loss of blood from his wound, strain, -excitement, and exhaustion--all had done their work--and everything swam -before his failing sight as his surgeon-father gently laid him down. - -The next day, when the relieving army, which had fought its way mile by -mile from the distant sea, made its final dash for Pekin, Rob Hinckley -followed it in an ambulance, tossing and muttering incoherently in the -unconsciousness of a high fever. - -Within the city the excitement on that memorable 13th of August was -intense. Foreign guns thundered against its massive walls and stout -gates from noon until dark, while from the lofty battlements swarms of -Chinese sharp-shooters replied with so furious a rifle-fire that none -dared cross the death-swept zone. - -Inside the walls the bombardment of the legation defences was continuous -all that day and all through the night that followed. Nor were the -besieged foreigners silent; but through the long hours the baying of -their Nordenfeldt gun, the vicious barking of their Colt's automatic, -the growl of "Old Betsy," the Chinese six-pounder that they had -found and converted to their own use, and the sharp yelping of their -rifle-fire were heard unceasingly. - -During the morning of the 14th the bombardment of the city was -continued, the Japanese being held at bay outside a stoutly defended -eastern gate, which they only succeeded in blowing up and carrying -after dark that night. At the same time the Russians were caught in -a death-trap at the next gateway on the south, where they easily had -forced the outer gate, but could make no impression upon the inner. Here -their chief of staff was killed, and many of their men, before they -extricated themselves and retired to a safe distance. - -After that the Americans tried the same entrance, stormed it, scaled the -lofty wall, charged down the inner ramp, gained possession, opened the -gate, and found themselves inside the southern city. From this point -they fought their way through a net-work of alleys and streets, swarming -with Chinese riflemen, to the water-gate beneath the Tartar wall, -concerning which Rob Hinckley had furnished them with information. - -In the mean time the British column, assigned to a gate still farther -south, had the marvellous good-fortune to find it undefended. So they -simply marched in, traversed the southern city, taking possession of the -Temple of Heaven _en route_, made their way to Rob's water-gate, waded -through its mud, and, to their own amazement as well as that of every -one else, found themselves not only in the heart of Pekin almost without -having fired a shot, but within the lines of legation defence as well. - -The first officer of the relieving army to pass through the water-gate -was Major Scott, of the 1st Sikhs, and with him were four of his men. -Then came General Gasalee and his staff, followed by the Sikh regiment, -the 1st Bengal Lancers, a detachment of Welsh fusileers, a field -battery, the Hong-Kong regiment, and a detachment of Royal marines. - -A few minutes later came the Americans, cheering their flag and their -weary comrades, who for two months had held the wall. They also came -through the famous water-gate that Chinese blindness had failed to -obstruct. General Chaffee led the way, and he was followed by five -hundred marines, the 14th and 9th regiments of infantry, two Hotchkiss -guns, and Battery Z. - -The siege of the legations was ended, the relieving army was in -possession of Pekin, the Empress Dowager, together with the Emperor -and the whole imperial court had fled, and the ill-advised, savagely -brutal, but long-continued effort to drive foreigners from Chinese -soil had come to an ignominious ending. Had China been united, the -struggle might have been prolonged for years, though it never could -have succeeded; but China was "a house divided against itself." Out of -the eighteen provinces only three took part in the movement, the others -being either opposed to it or indifferent as to its outcome. - -The Empress Dowager, who hated the very idea of reforms based upon -foreign models, was opposed by the Emperor, who desired them. The -prime-minister, Prince Tuan, bitterly anti-foreign, found his schemes -opposed by Prince Ching and the ever-politic Li Hung Chang. The -bloody Kwang-su general, Tung-Fu-Hsang, who thirsted for the blood of -foreigners, was thwarted in his plans for their destruction by the more -wary General Jung Lu, who ordered his troops not to kill any more than -they could help. - -So Pekin fell, almost without a struggle, and for a year afterwards the -city was misruled and looted by foreign soldiers, who destroyed many of -its most beautiful structures and carried away its most precious works -of art. From it also they ravaged the surrounding country, sending out -punishment expeditions to kill, burn, and destroy in every direction. - -In the mean time the American troops had been followed into the city by -a train of the biggest army wagons ever seen in China, each drawn by -six huge mules, and by a number of four-mule ambulances, one of which -brought Rob Hinckley. From it he was transferred to a hospital, where -he lay for weeks with no knowledge of his surroundings or of what was -happening about him. Then one day he opened his eyes and looked into the -face of his mother. - -Of course he knew that this was a dream, for all things were but dreams -with him now, so he wearily closed his unreliable eyes and went to -sleep. The next time he opened them he again saw his mother's face, -bending lovingly, but oh! so anxiously, over him. This time the dream -lasted until she gently kissed his forehead, and he heard her say: -"Please, dear God, don't take him from us!" Then he knew that he was -awake and must make haste to get up, because it troubled his mother to -have him lie there. Besides, it was very silly not to be able to raise -his hands. A little later it occurred to him to wonder if he were in -Cheng-Ting-Fu, or, if not, how it happened that his mother had come away -from so safe a place into one so full of danger as Pekin. - -By-and-by they told him all about the expedition that, accompanied by -his father, had been sent down the road from Pekin, how terribly it had -punished Pao-Ting-Fu for its murder of missionaries, and how it had gone -on to Cheng-Ting-Fu to find all the foreigners who had taken refuge -behind its brave walls safe and unharmed. He learned of his parents' -joyful reunion, and how they had hastened back to Pekin and his bedside. -Gradually, too, he was told the thrilling story of his father's escape -from the dreadful city of Tai-Yuan, of his perilous wanderings through -Shan-Si and Ho-nan, until finally he found himself on a branch of the -Han River, down which he floated for many nights in a skiff to Hankow. -From there he was taken on a United States gun-boat to Shanghai, where -he met Mr. Bishop, the engineer, and learned that his boy had plunged -into the very heart of the storm of wrath then centring about Pekin. - -During his days of convalescence, while Rob was learning of all these -things, he saw much of the Lorimers, who had refused to leave Pekin -until assured that the lad, to whom they felt they were so largely -indebted for their own safety, was himself out of danger. - -Then the two families left the city in which they had suffered and -endured so much, and travelled together over the reconstructed railway -to Tien-Tsin, where they took steamer for Shanghai. There Rob found -his trunk, together with the money due him for services rendered, that -had been forwarded from Canton by Mr. Bishop. He also found several -letters from the engineer, who had learned so highly to appreciate the -lad's pluck, manliness, and ready resource during the long journey they -had taken together that he now offered him a permanent and well-paid -position on the proposed American railway. - -About this same time Mr. Lorimer, who was president of a great American -life insurance company, offered Dr. Hinckley the post of chief medical -examiner in China for his company, which was about to extend its -operations into that country. - -It is almost needless to say that both these offers were promptly -accepted, and before the Lorimers took steamer for America and the last -stage of their eventful journey around the world, Dr. and Mrs. Hinckley -were already settled in the Shanghai house that was to be their future -home. - -Rob left them there when he went to Canton to assume his new duties; but -he rejoins them in July of each year, when father, mother, and son go -together to Japan for a happy month among its life-giving mountains. - -The strong friendship cemented between Annabel and Rob during those -terrible Pekin days has since been maintained by means of frequent -letters, and both await with eager anticipations the autumn of 1904, -when the Hinckleys are to revisit their own country and join the -Lorimers on a trip to the World's Fair at St. Louis. - -In talking it all over, Mrs. Hinckley often exclaims: "How wonderful are -the ways of Providence!" and whenever Rob hears her speak thus, he adds: - -"Yes, mother, and how splendidly were the designs of Providence carried -out by Chinese Jo!" - - -THE END - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Blue Dragon, by Kirk Munroe - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BLUE DRAGON *** - -***** This file should be named 42886-8.txt or 42886-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/8/8/42886/ - -Produced by Greg Bergquist, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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