Nelly stood perfectly still for some seconds, gazing at the empty space on the top of the wall. Then she pinched herself to make sure that she was not dreaming, and said, 'Well, I never! A Christian! That is why he looks so nice.'
Then she went back to her bench and began to think hard, keeping up a small flow of conversation to herself all the time, somewhat after this fashion: 'Now let me see. He is a Christian, and this is Yung Ching. Have I ever heardof any missionaries who live at Yung Ching? No, I haven't. If there are other Christians here, there must be a missionary who comes sometimes. Should I ask Ku Nai-nai if there are any Christians in Yung Ching? I'd better not. I wish it was to-morrow morning. It may rain, and then what shall I do? Oh dear, some of that red paper is sticking out of my sleeve. I must tuck it in,' which she did, and continued: 'Perhaps after all he is only a Roman Catholic Christian. Well, that is a great deal better than being a heathen, although some missionaries' children don't seem to think so. Do Catholics sing "Art thou weary," I wonder? There is that red paper again. Where can I hide it? Behind this little heap of stones in the corner; and then I'llgo and see what the others are doing.'
Nelly made a hole in the heap of stones and carefully hid the red paper. She had barely finished when Little Yi came running to call her.
'Come and see what I have made to eat,' she panted. 'I really am a good cook. I don't know how my mother can get along without me. I know so much about foreigners, too,' said Little Yi, who was certainly becoming more conceited than ever. She was a smart child, and more energetic than most Chinese. Ku Nai-nai was becoming quite fond of her in a selfish fashion, because Little Yi could fill her pipe, arrange the rooms, and run to fetch things much better than any child of her age whom she had ever known, although she did notalways remember that none of her family and friends were Manchus, and that the poor little Chinese girls of Yi's age were all suffering from foot-binding. Luckily for Nelly, Little Yi's concoction of meat, flour, and sauce quite took up the attention of the household; otherwise, they might have noticed how thoughtful she was. Indeed, Little Yi did remark that Nelly did not appear to think much of her dish.
There was plenty of time for reflection all the afternoon and evening, for Ku Nai-nai seemed determined to have a regular turnout while the old woman was out of the way, and kept An Ching and Little Yi quite busy. Nelly decided that if the Christian—for that was how she thought of the Chinaman—could help Little Yiand herself to get away before Hung Li returned, they had better go with him. But would Little Yi consent? When the children were together in Peking, Little Yi gave way to Nelly in everything, but now Nelly did not feel so sure of her. She went to bed early, and never ceased to wonder what was going on in the next compound until she fell asleep.
Now the next compound was built on nearly the same plan as the Kus'. The dwelling-places were all in the centre court, and there was the same large round entrance left in the wall, through which you could pass into a small court at the side. This was next to the Kus' small court, and it was there that Nelly's Christian, whose surname was Chang, had appeared over the wall. Hung Li and KuNai-nai did not know that there were any native Christians in Yung Ching, but there were, and they even had a small room set aside for preaching and Christian worship, where an English clergyman from Peking sometimes held services. The room was in the compound of the native lay reader's house, quite at the other side of the town, and Chang and his family were the only converts who did not live close to this little meeting-house.
When Chang, chuckling to himself at the astonishment he had caused, descended the ladder, he found his wife waiting for him at the bottom. They both went through the round hole in the centre court and then indoors. Chang Nai-nai was most eager to learn all that Nelly had said, for she had only heard one-half of thetalk from her post at the foot of the ladder, and as it was she who had first heard the sound of hymn-singing coming from their neighbours', she considered herself entitled to know everything. When her husband had satisfied her on this point, she demanded of him what he was going to do. Her little eyes twinkled as she suggested that they might just as well have a reward on the children's account as Hung Li. 'And,' she added, 'we have to live, even if we are Christians.'
'To be sure,' said Chang, 'and are we not living pretty comfortably on the type-cutting I get from the missionaries in Peking? I shall do my best to help the children to get home, even if I gain nothing by it, but if the foreign child's father offers me something afterwards I shall notrefuse it. Suppose our son had been stolen, what should we have done? There he is.'
A tall, pale boy of fourteen appeared in the doorway.
'Listen, Chi Fu,' he continued; 'I have seen one of the hymn-singers,' and he repeated his account of his adventure of the morning, and told his son how he and Chang Nai-nai had gone into the small court and heard Ku Nai-nai call away her daughter-in-law and Little Yi, and tell Nelly to stay where she was. When they found that only one person was there, Chang had ventured to fetch a ladder and look over.
'Now, Chi Fu, my clever son, you must tell us how we are to get hold of these children, and then I can easily take them to Peking.'
'You'll be only too glad of an excuse to get to Peking,' struck inChang Nai-nai, 'and I shall be left here to look after all those young fowls. It is not easy this hot weather, and Chi Fu there has his head too full of books and learning to be of any use.'
'Now don't scold, old woman,' replied Chang. 'I can take some of your chickens to sell in Peking at the same time. Fatten them up well, and the foreigners will give me good prices.'
Chang Nai-nai only grunted. She was not really mean and greedy, but she loved to make a fuss.
Meanwhile Chi Fu had been reflecting, his knees crossed one over the other and his head resting, in what he thought was a graceful attitude, on the palm of his left hand, supported by his elbow on the table.
'Respected father,' he said, whenhe could get a word in, 'it seems to me that the first thing to be done is to write to the young lady's parents. All we need do is to inform the honourable gentleman where his daughter is to be found.'
'That is so, my son, and you can write the letter.'
'I will write to-morrow, after you have inquired the correct name and address of the young lady's father. To avoid risks, in case the letter should be opened on the way, instead of writing in the usual characters of our language I'll use the Romanised, which I learnt in the mission school in Peking.'
'You'll write your letter and send it, and before any one can come the children will be off with that man Ku Hung Li. We must get them here before he returns,' said Chang Nai-nai.
'You are right too, my mother. The letter shall be written, and we will also try to think of some other plan to benefit the foreign and native young ladies.'
With which Chi Fu rose slowly and majestically, and glided into the next room.
Chang and his wife saw no more of their son that day until it was time to eat rice in the evening. Chi Fu had been at the mission compound. Naturally the Changs were both full of excitement over the morning's adventure; so little happens to disturb the tranquillity of home life in China. They had talked of nothing else, and were quite ready to begin again when Chi Fu arrived.
'Well, have you thought of a plan to get hold of those children?' hismother asked, as soon as he had swallowed one bowl of rice.
The family oracle replied slowly that he had thought a good deal about it, and that he had inquired at the mission when the courier was going to Peking.
'You surely did not tell about those children?' screamed Chang Nai-nai.
'No, I only asked about the courier,' quietly replied Chi Fu, 'and as he has only just left, my letter could not go until next month. It would not be prudent to send a letter written in foreign characters otherwise than by the mission courier, and were I to use Chinese writing it might be read on the way.'
Chi Fu partook of another half bowl of rice, and then continued:
'Therefore it would be advisableto make some plan for the escape of the two young ladies, and receive them here.'
'But what plan?' cried his mother. 'Your father and I have been thinking it over all the afternoon, and there seems no way.'
'No, there is no way unless we get the help of some one in the compound,' replied Chi Fu. Then he dropped a little of his dignity, and warming to the subject, unfolded his plan, which was that his father should question Nelly next day about An Ching, and that if she seemed reliable Nelly should tell her everything, and they would arrange a meeting between her and Chang. If An Ching were willing to help, it would be quite possible to get the children over the wall by means of ropes. Chi Fu, who certainly had a good head on hisshoulders and could use it to some purpose when he forgot his affectation, suggested also that in case of an extra courier being sent from the mission, or the arrival of a missionary, Nelly had better write a letter to her parents, which he could enclose.
'But,' said Chang, 'if we get the children, are we to keep them here until they are taken back to Peking?'
Chi Fu replied that he was afraid his father would be obliged to make the journey to Peking, and told his mother to fatten her fowls in readiness. There would be plenty of time, as Ku Hung Li was not likely to be back yet, and they could not attempt to get the children away except by night, in which case they must wait for the moonlight.
Chang and his wife thought that their clever son had planned everything marvellously, and next morning Chang went into the small court and waited to see what would happen. He had not been there long when he saw a little red ball on the other side of the wall rise up in the air several times. Nelly was trying to throw a pebble wrapped in a piece of red paper over the wall, but as Bob Bates had often told her, she threw just like a girl, and it was only after several attempts that her little red messenger landed on Chang's side.
Very soon after her successful throw Nelly saw Chang's pleasant, round, smiling face appearing cautiously over the wall. When he was satisfied that no one else was looking, he came a step higher.
'Good-morning, Ku-niang (young lady),' he said. 'What are the others doing, and where are they?'
'They are all busy doing their hair,' Nelly replied; 'at least An Ching and Ku Nai-nai are. Little Yi is washing some rice at the well, and the old servant is still ill. I'll begin to sing at once if I see any one coming. I can see quite well through the hole when I stand here in the middle of the court. Please will you tell me your name?'
Chang did so, and said: 'My son thinks that we ought to let An Ching know of the plan to get you away. Are you sure she is to be trusted?'
'Oh yes, quite,' replied Nelly.
'You are sure she won't tell her mother-in-law or any female friends who come to the house?'
'I am certain she won't say anything about it to Ku Nai-nai, and I don't believe she has any friends. She wants to get away from here and come to me in Peking. But there'sLittle Yi,' Nelly went on. 'She'll be cross if I tell An Ching and not her.'
'Well, well,' said Chang, 'of course she will have to know, and it may as well be now.'
And then he told Nelly about his son's idea that she should write to her father.
Nelly was delighted, until she suddenly remembered that she had nothing to write with.
Chang at first said that she must do her best with Chinese paper and the brush that the Chinese use for a pen, but then he recollected that Chi Fu had a lead pencil and some foreign paper, of which he was very proud. He promised to throw them over the wall, and went on to talk about his clever son. He had by no means finished when Nelly, who spied An Ching coming, suddenlybegan to sing most vigorously. Chang broke off and vanished, leaving Nelly standing in the middle of the court foolishly looking at the wall.
'Whatever is the matter?' An Ching asked when she had hobbled into the court. 'What are you looking at?'
'Nothing,' said Nelly; 'at least he's gone now.'
'Who? What do you mean?' exclaimed An Ching.
'The Christian—I mean Chang.'
An Ching was more and more puzzled, and looked at Nelly in wonder.
At length Nelly said, 'Come and sit down and I'll tell you all about it.'
They both sat down on the bench near the wall, and Nelly told her tale to the astonished An Ching, or rathershe half told it, for just as she was in the middle of it Ku Nai-nai came shouting for that lazy An Ching to come indoors.
You may be sure that An Ching made haste to finish up her work after they had all eaten their mid-day meal. She and Nelly got out to the court alone, and Nelly was able to finish the exciting story. An Ching was too surprised to offer any advice. She agreed, however, that Little Yi must know at once, and when that young lady joined them she was told the wonderful news of the man in the next compound who was willing to help them to get away.
Little Yi was quite as enthusiastic about it as was possible to a Chinese girl. She wanted Nelly to throw over some red paper at once to call Chang, but An Ching said that asKu Nai-nai had already been smoking and dozing some time, she might call them at any moment, so it was decided that they should wait until next day, and throw over the paper as soon as ever Ku Nai-nai was comfortably settled on the kang with her pipe.
Poor An Ching! she hated the thought of being left behind, and was dreadfully disappointed when she heard that Chang had said he could not take her; but she promised to do nothing to hinder their flight in any case. There was one thing she did not want to do, though, and that was to talk to Chang over the wall unless his wife were there. 'You must see him first, Nelly,' she said, 'and tell him to send up his wife to talk to me, or else get two ladders. It would not be at all proper for me to speak to a strange man alone.Respectable Chinese young women never do that.' Nelly saw no objection, though she thought An Ching was foolish, and it was decided that she and Little Yi should receive Chang next day.
If Ku Nai-nai had been more wide-awake, she could hardly have failed to notice how quickly the housework and cooking were done next day; but as she was not given to interesting herself in other people's motives (although she was very suspicious when there was the slightest cause for it, and sometimes when there was none at all), she did not observe that Little Yi was eager to prepare her pipe and pot of tea, while An Ching and Nelly wiped out the bowls and put them in thecook-house. There is not much to do in a Chinese family—no scrubbing or polishing; the cooking, too, is quite simple in the ordinary home. The stone floors are swept and the furniture wiped over. The Chinese don't mind dust, but they like to have things in their places and the rooms orderly. Chinese girls never come in from a walk and throw their hats and gloves on a chair, because, to begin with, they don't wear hats and gloves, and they very seldom go for walks.
An Ching pretended to be cross because Nelly had spilled some rice, and told the children to go off and leave her to finish alone. They went directly to their favourite side court, and at once got the red paper out of the heap of stones and threw a piece with a pebble inside over the wall. Nelly finding that shecould not throw any better than before, Little Yi tried, and succeeded very well—so well, indeed, that Chang was there with his ladder in almost no time after they had left the house. He gave the children the usual Chinese greeting of, 'Fine day. Are you well?'
Nelly replied: 'Quite well. It is rather hot. This is Little Yi.'
Chang hoped Little Yi was well, and when she had replied that she was, and hoped he was too, he asked for 'the young Ku Nai-nai,' meaning An Ching.
Nelly explained (not without the assistance of Little Yi, who liked to put in her word) that An Ching did not consider it proper to talk to Chang without his wife.
Chang repeated this to his wife, who was at the foot of the ladder.
'She is quite right,' said Chang Nai-nai.
'Then,' said Chang, 'you must come up and talk to her.'
Now Chang Nai-nai had never mounted a ladder, and she was rather afraid to do it, but she thought she would like to see into the next compound, and resolved to try.
Chang came down, and she cautiously went up a few rungs, but stopped and asked Chang to follow her, as she felt rather nervous. When Chang had reassured her, she ventured to go two rungs higher, gave a great sigh, and exclaimed, 'You are not following me!'
Chang told that he could not very well do so until she was higher still.
Chang Nai-nai, who was very determined and not lacking in courage, resolutely went up a littlehigher. She was now more than half way to the top, and there she stuck, seized by a sudden terror. She looked very funny, clinging with both hands to the ladder, and her little claw-like feet close together on one of the rungs. Chang could not help smiling, which greatly annoyed the poor woman, and she at once began a tirade against the foolishness of An Ching. Why could she not talk with a grey-headed old man (Chang had about six grey hairs) who might have been a grandfather had their little baby girl lived and been married at sixteen, as she herself was? 'I won't have anything to do with helping the children to get home to their parents, no matter what the reward may be, if I am obliged to climb ladders and talk with ridiculous young women,' she went on.
'Come down, then,' said Chang.
But this was more than could be expected of her. As we all know from experience, especially girls who have got so far as climbing into a hay-loft, it is very much easier to go up a ladder than to come down. Chang Nai-nai might have remained where she was until she dropped off, had not Chang mounted after her and almost carried her down.
When the little woman was safely deposited on the ground, she became less irate against An Ching.
'What can be done?' she said. 'The young woman is in the right, but mount that ladder again I will not. If she can find a ladder and climb up on her side, let her do so. If she can't, as she is trying to help a foreigner, she might adopt the foreign custom of talking to any one.You can go up again and tell the children what I say. When she knows what I've suffered on that ladder she will give in, I think.'
So Chang mounted once more and told the children, who had heard a good deal of the talk, about Chang Nai-nai's efforts to converse with An Ching. They both went to try and persuade her to come, and found her in her own room. She finally consented, and, half dragged by the children, appeared through the round hole. Chang, who was still at his post, took away all An Ching's embarrassment by greeting her with:
'Is the young Ku Nai-nai well?'
Then, after a few more formalities, he asked Little Yi to go and stand in the round gateway, so as to be able to warn them if any one came, and he began at once todiscuss with An Ching ways and means for releasing the children.
The arrangements were very simple. In eight days' time there would be sufficient moonlight.
The children were to wait until they were sure that Ku Nai-nai was asleep, and then squeeze themselves through the window over their kang and come out into the court. Chang would be on his side with Chi Fu, and they would let down a large round basket, into which the children must get, one at a time, and be hauled over the wall. An Ching suggested that she should ask Ku Nai-nai to allow her to go and visit a relative on the day which would be arranged for the flight, and she would stay there all night, to avoid suspicion. She saw very well that Chang could not take her away too, but she beggedhim to aid her if she found any means of joining Nelly later. Chang promised to think about it. Then he threw Nelly the pencil and a sheet of paper, and took leave of them all for that day. Nelly at once began to consider what to say to her parents, and finally wrote the following letter:
'Dear Father and Mother—I am quite safe here in Yung Ching with the Kus, and so is Little Yi, but we want to come home. Chang, who lives next door and heard us singing, is going to try to help us to get away. Ku Hung Li, who stole us, says he will send us home with a barber, but I would rather go with Chang. There is a very nice girl called An Ching, who is very kind to us, and I want her to come and live with us in Peking, but her feet are very small,so she can't do much, though she can sew beautifully. How is Baby Buckle? and Bob and Bessie and Arthur, and all the other children? I wear Chinese dress now, but my hair has only been shaved once. There is no more room on this paper, and this is all I have. Chang gave me it; he is a Christian.'Your loving daughter,'Nelly Grey.'
'Dear Father and Mother—I am quite safe here in Yung Ching with the Kus, and so is Little Yi, but we want to come home. Chang, who lives next door and heard us singing, is going to try to help us to get away. Ku Hung Li, who stole us, says he will send us home with a barber, but I would rather go with Chang. There is a very nice girl called An Ching, who is very kind to us, and I want her to come and live with us in Peking, but her feet are very small,so she can't do much, though she can sew beautifully. How is Baby Buckle? and Bob and Bessie and Arthur, and all the other children? I wear Chinese dress now, but my hair has only been shaved once. There is no more room on this paper, and this is all I have. Chang gave me it; he is a Christian.
'Your loving daughter,'Nelly Grey.'
This letter took Nelly more than a day to write. When it was done she threw it over the wall into Chang's compound.
Chang and Chi Fu were very busy during the next few days in making arrangements for a cart to be ready on the night fixed for the flight. Nelly and Little Yi on their side were all impatience for the day to arrive, and poor An Ching was despondent. She huntedover all her treasures, and gave each of the children a keepsake. Nelly's was a little square looking-glass with tassels, to hang from her belt, and Little Yi had a thick silver ring with an enamelled green frog in the centre. Nelly thought of plan after plan for An Ching's escape, but An Ching shook her head at each one. 'Oh, Nelly,' she said one day, 'how lucky you are not to have been born a China-woman!'
Everything went on well in both compounds. Chang came at the call of the little red signal every day, and let An Ching know what he and Chi Fu were doing. Nelly asked Chang if he thought that Chi Fu could tell her the date, and Chi Fu sent her an almanac which had been given to him by a missionary at the beginning of the year, but it was of no use to Nelly until Chang told her that the longest day was only nine days off; so she put a cross at the date which was ninedays before the 21st of June, and thus found out the exact date. In this way she knew when Sunday came, and although there would be only one more for her to spend in Yung Ching, she resolved to keep it in the best way she could, by saying over to herself all the hymns she could remember and taking more time for her prayers that morning; neither would she do any teaching or sewing.
The day before the one fixed for the moonlight adventure arrived. An Ching had got permission to go and see her relatives the next day; the old servant, who was better, was to go with her. It was very hot, almost too hot to talk. Ku Nai-nai said there would be a thunderstorm. An Ching, Nelly, and Little Yi were sitting on the bench in the small court. They had just had avisit from Chang, who told them not to expect him the next day, as he must go and fetch the mule in the evening. He and Chi Fu would certainly be there the next night, he said, and he cautioned the children to close the window after they had climbed through. Little Yi was almost asleep, and was swaying to and fro as she sat on the bench. Nelly had hold of An Ching's hand, and was telling her how she should send her messages through Chang's mission. Nelly had got over the excitement, and was quietly happy at the thought of going home. How she longed to see her dear father and mother and Baby Buckle! She thought of all this for some time, with her hand still in An Ching's; and An Ching was thinking of her loneliness when the children wouldbe no longer with her, and of Hung Li's wrath when he returned. Then Nelly too was overcome by the heat, and she nodded and bobbed about until at last her head fell in An Ching's lap. An Ching stroked the pretty little cheek, and felt as if her heart would break at losing her friend. She was resolutely keeping back her tears, when all three gave a great start, and the children were wide awake in a moment. There was a loud rumbling sound.
'The thunder!' exclaimed Nelly.
But An Ching knew better. She realised that the noise came from a cart passing under the archway into the outer court next to the street, and that Hung Li had come back. She said nothing, and all three stood listening. Sure enough, itwas a cart, and the large gate was being opened. The children heard it too, and although no one spoke a word, each one knew that it must be Hung Li. There was no mistaking now; it was his voice in the inner court talking to Ku Nai-nai.
'I must go,' said An Ching. 'We will talk it over again this afternoon. You two must pretend to be glad that Hung Li has come back.'
An Ching left them, and was greeted by her husband with a command to get him something to drink. Ku Nai-nai began to scold her for being out of the way when needed. She did not mind though, for now, perhaps, she thought, the children would not go away the next night.
Hung Li set about unharnessing the mule, and tied it to a post in thecourt. He then partook of some food, which they had hastily prepared for him, and flung himself down on the kang, where he was soon fast asleep. When An Ching could get away, she took the children's bowls and chopsticks into the small court, and they fetched their food from the cook-house. Little Yi was the first to ask if they should still get out of the window and be hauled up the wall in a basket, as arranged.
'It would be of no use,' said An Ching. 'Hung Li has the mule ready, and would easily overtake your cart next morning.'
'But,' exclaimed Nelly, 'Chang says he has as much right to us as Hung Li, and I don't see why we can't go.'
'Hung Li would kill me if you escaped while I am here to look afteryou,' replied An Ching. 'If I go away to-morrow you might try to get off, but we can't decide anything until we hear what he intends to do.'
Hung Li slept peacefully for a couple of hours. Then he got up, called for Ku Nai-nai and An Ching, refreshed himself by wiping his face with a rag dipped in hot water, and took a deep draught from the spout of the tea-pot, after which he began to talk.
'We shall start to-night' he said. 'There are bills out all over Peking offering 500 taels (£100) reward for the children. I shall take them back at once. An Ching must go too, to look after them. The barber will wait for us at the city gate, and send a message to theying kua jên(Englishman) as soon as we arrive. It is all settled.'
Ku Nai-nai grunted. She did not really care what became of the children, but she told Hung Li she hoped he would make sure of the money, and that too much of it would not stick to the barber's fingers.
An Ching was delighted, though she did not dare to show it. She left the room, saying she must make ready. Her first care was to find the little girls and tell them the news.
Although Nelly and Little Yi would rather have gone with Chang, they were very pleased to hear that they were to start so soon, especially as An Ching was to go with them.
'Then we shall not go over the wall in a basket after all,' said Little Yi. 'I should have liked that.'
'We must write a letter at once,'said Nelly, 'and throw it into Chang's compound.' 'Yes,' said An Ching, 'but who is to write it?'
This was a puzzle. An Ching, like nearly all Chinese women, could not write at all, and Nelly could only do so in English.
'You know some characters, Little Yi,' continued An Ching. 'Suppose you try.'
Little Yi felt very much flattered. 'All right,' she said. 'Give me a piece of paper and I'll do it.'
An Ching tottered off to her room, and returned with a piece of the rough tissue paper which the Chinese use for writing upon, a brush, a piece of Indian ink, and a slate slab to mix it on, all tucked up her sleeve.
Little Yi knelt down and spread her materials on the bench, while An Ching stood ready to sit downon the letter in case Hung Li or his mother came.
Little Yi could only make a few characters, and had never written a letter, but she began boldly with a beautiful 'we.'
'Can not come,' said Nelly.
'I can't make "can,"' said Little Yi; so she wrote 'not' and as much as she could remember of 'come.'
'Hung Li is here,' dictated Nelly.
'How can you expect me to know how to make "Hung" and "Li"?' objected the scribe.
An Ching said that the character for 'Hung' was the same as that used for the word 'red,' and she thought she could make the 'Li.'
She took the pen and did it, very badly and quite crooked.
Then Little Yi found she was not able to make 'is.' She missed that and put 'here.'
The letter then read, 'We not come. Hung Li here.'
'That's enough,' said An Ching. 'Fold it up and put any character which means Chang on the outside.'
Little Yi did so, and they screwed the bit of paper up with a pebble inside and threw it over the wall.
The preparations for departure were very few and simple. They had no luggage. An Ching had a small bundle with some extra clothing, comb, etc., and a box was fastened on behind the cart with cups, a tea-pot, a few cooking utensils, and some charcoal for cooking their food on the way. Nelly could hardly believe that they were to start. They had only been a few months in Yung Ching, but it seemed like years.
Ku Nai-nai was unusually pleasant at the last. She told Little Yi thatshe should miss her, and said a few kind words to Nelly.
Just before sunset the party started. An Ching and the children were inside the cart, with Hung Li as driver, sitting on the shafts. Hung Li had forgotten to pull down the curtain in front of the cart, and just as they turned out of the compound into the street they came face to face with Chang.
Nelly and Little Yi both started and bent forward to greet him, but An Ching held them back and whispered, 'Hush!'
Chang, after making sure that Hung Li was not looking, quickly put his head forward and asked under his breath, 'To Peking?'
The children nodded vigorously, but An Ching said, in a low voice, 'I don't know.'
Chang vanished, and the childrenlooked questioningly at An Ching. She motioned to them to keep silent, and they did so, greatly wondering. When Hung Li, who was sitting with his back to the others, turned and saw that the curtain was not drawn, he angrily pulled it down, whipped up the mule, and they were off at a good pace. Nelly was quite pleased to feel the jolting of a cart once more. 'But surely,' she thought, 'this one bumps more than others.' It seemed so to her because she had not been in a cart for so long a time.
Just when they were getting outside Yung Ching, the thunderstorm which they had been expecting came, and the rain fell heavily, so that they were glad to keep well inside the cart. Hung Li tried to get under shelter too,but he found that he must make up his mind to bear the rain, if he meant to get any distance on the road before it became dark. He was very cross, and no one dared to speak a word.
It was very uncomfortable for every one during the next couple of hours. The cotton covering of the cart became soaked, and drops of water began to fall through. Hung Li was in a dreadful temper because the mule had gone slightly lame, and he was afraid that it would not be able to reach the first stopping-place. How he did lash and scold the poor creature! An Ching took the opportunity, when he was obliged to get down and lead it, to explain why she had told Changshe was not sure that they were going to Peking.
'I heard him say,' she jerked out, 'that if he were questioned about a foreign child on the road, or if people seemed inquisitive, he should branch off half way and go to some quiet country place. Ku Nai-nai told him he would be very foolish to do so; but he is very obstinate, and if he gets a little too much wine there is no knowing what he will do.'
'Dear me!' sighed Nelly, 'shall we ever get home?'
'To be sure you will,' replied An Ching. 'Chang will let the foreigners in Peking know where you have been, and your letter will be sent.'
'Yes, and mother will know that I am well,' thought Nelly.
They went on until they cameto the river, which it was too late to cross, even if the mule had been able to do it. There was a small inn close at hand. Hung Li knocked at the door, roused the inn-keeper, and asked for one small room for his wife and children. He said that one of them, a boy, had hurt his leg, and he should carry him in. Nelly found that she was the boy. An Ching bundled her up well about the head, and Hung Li carried her to the kang, where she was soon fast asleep.
'You will have to carry Little Yi too,' An Ching told Hung Li. 'If the inn-keeper sees her feet he will never believe she is your child.' Hung Li did so, pretending that he did not want her shoes to get wet. Then, being afraid that the mule might die, he gave it a good feedand comfortable quarters for the night.
Next morning the children were very stiff, and would have liked to run about, but they were kept shut up in the room while An Ching fetched their food, and as soon as the cart was ready they were carried back to it, with the same excuses.
It was with great difficulty, in spite of the good food and rest which had been given to the mule, that it was able to pull the cart up the steep muddy bank after crossing the river. It stood panting hard for some time when the task was finished, quite regardless of the blows administered by the cruel driver.
'You'll never get to Peking with that mule,' called out the ferryman as they started.
They went along very slowly.An Ching suggested, when they arrived at a quiet, open part of the road, that the children should walk to lighten the cart, and they were very glad to be out in the fresh morning air; even An Ching got out when they came to a slight incline, but Hung Li took care to make the children climb in again whenever he saw a human being approach.
Now that Yung Ching was well behind them, Hung Li decided not to urge the mule too much, in case it died before he was able to return it to the man from whom he had hired it in Peking; so that morning passed pleasantly enough. The children gathered flowers by the wayside, and the sunshine made Nelly hopeful. It was a delight to be in the country, with all so fresh and cool after the rain. At mid-daythey passed through a dirty village, where they bought some eggs and bread. When they were well outside the village they cooked the eggs and took a meal, after which the mule was unharnessed and fed, greatly to his surprise, and the children had a sleep in the cart, while Hung Li and An Ching reposed on some straw close by.
That afternoon they passed a funny little hut with a red dog painted on the door, which Nelly remembered to have seen on the journey from Peking. She wondered if they would go to any of the same inns they had stayed at before, but Hung Li carefully avoided them, and took a different road as often as possible.
When they put up at the inn that night the children were again carried, with the same explanations,although the ground was not very wet this time.
'To-morrow we shall be in Peking,' said Nelly delightedly.
'No,' replied An Ching. 'We have come very slowly; we shall be three nights on the road this time.'
Nelly was disappointed, but made the best of it. She slept badly that night, and had a headache the next morning.
An Ching was away a long time getting the breakfast, and when she returned with her hands full she was very excited.
'One of the placards offering the reward for you two has just been stuck on the wall of this inn,' she exclaimed. 'Hung Li is in a great rage. He says he must be off at once. He intends to get another mule and hurry off to Peking.'
'So he is not going to take us to some other place? I am so glad,' said Nelly.
'No, he seems to have changed his mind. I am to get a small coat for Little Yi, and she is to pretend to be a boy.'
'Why me?' exclaimed Little Yi. 'My ears are pierced. I could not be a boy, and I won't. Nelly was the boy yesterday.'
'What does it matter? No one will notice the holes in your ears if you take out the earrings, and then you can run about. Nelly must not be seen at all, Hung Li says. It's no use objecting. You'll have to do it. You naughty boy!' she shouted, as she heard Hung Li and another man talking outside the door.
Little Yi and Nelly giggled. Then An Ching locked them inand went to buy the coat. There was very little difference between it and the one she was wearing. An Ching saw that Little Yi's queue was right, took out her earrings, and then removed her bracelets.
Nelly was carried to the cart in a bundle, and Little Yi, in no amiable mood at having lost her earrings and wooden bracelets, was hustled in after An Ching.
Nelly was still feeling rather weak and tired, and so was the poor mule. He dragged them wearily along the road for a couple of hours, and then his troubles were all over, for he stopped quite still and dropped to the ground, and before Hung Li could get him out of the shafts he was quite dead.
Of course every one was obliged to come down from the cart. LittleYi and An Ching helped to undo the harness and Hung Li dragged the mule out of the way. Nelly shed a few tears over the poor dead animal which had toiled on so bravely to the end.
Hung Li was in a worse temper than ever. He wished he had never seen the little foreign imp and big-footed Manchu child; 'and I wish I could get rid of you as well,' he said to An Ching. At last he set off to fetch another mule, threatening all sorts of penalties to whoever stirred from the spot or spoke to passers-by. Before going, he propped up the shafts of the cart and made them all get inside. They were relieved when the angry man had gone, and tried to settle themselves comfortably in the cart; but when he was well out of sight, Little Yi, regardless of consequences, got out and looked round. An Ching did not trouble much, as she knew Hung Li could not be back very soon, but when after a time she put her head outside and could not see Little Yi at all, she became uneasy and herself got out. Nelly did the same. They called and ran in every direction before they found her. An Ching thought she saw something moving behind a clump of bushes some yards away. She asked Nelly, who could walk much better than she, to go and see. Nelly went behind the bushes, and sure enough she saw Little Yi a long way off, running away as hard as she could towards two men, one of whom Nelly to her great surprise and joy recognised as Chang. The other she thought must be Chi Fu. She waited until they came near, then she rushed forward, caughthold of Chang's hand and burst into tears.
Tears of joy don't last very long. Nelly's were soon gone, and there was no trace of them when they all went to the other side of the bushes, where they found An Ching, who stood as if spellbound when she saw them.
'However did you find us?' she asked Chang. 'But you must go away,' she added; 'Hung Li may be back any moment. He will kill me if he finds you here,' and she hurried the children into the cart and got in herself.
When they were safely in, Chang said: 'This is my son Chi Fu. He will keep a good look-out and I will talk to you here. If Hung Li comes we can walk quietly away. But he can't be back for a long time yet if he has gone to get a mule; the nextvillage is nearly as far as the one you left this morning.'
Chang then told them how he and Chi Fu came to be there.
'When I saw you start,' he said, 'I at once went into my house and consulted with my son, who said that he and I must certainly follow you. He got two mules at once and we set off early next morning. We rode hard and reached the river well before noon. At the inn near the river we heard about a party which had crossed earlier, and although the inn-keeper said the children were boy and girl, we felt sure that it must have been you.'
Here Chi Fu came up and put in his word.
'Don't forget to tell the young foreign lady that her letter has been sent off,' he said.
'No,' replied Chang; 'I'll tellher. You must go farther away and keep a good look-out on the road the way Hung Li went.' And Chang turned to Nelly and told her that a courier had started for the Peking mission two days ago and taken her letter enclosed in one for the missionary from Chi Fu.
'And did you get my letter?' asked Little Yi. 'We threw it over the wall.'
Chang replied that his wife had picked up a piece of paper with some writing upon it, but it was nearly all blotted out by the rain and could not be read.
'It was of no consequence,' said An Ching, at which Little Yi was not pleased. 'How did you manage to find us?'
'We rode on quickly, and very soon saw your cart in the distance; then we followed by a side roadtoo narrow for a cart. When you stopped to rest at noon I got off my mule and came quite close. I saw the young Ku Nai-nai as she lay asleep.'
An Ching did not much like this, but she said nothing.
Chang continued: 'It was easy to follow you and put up at the same inn at night, especially as Hung Li did not know us. We rode after you this morning, and when we saw that the mule had fallen we left ours with an old man in a hut over there,' pointing beyond the bushes, 'and began to walk towards you. Little Yi saw us coming, and here we are.'
'Now what are you going to do?' asked An Ching.
'We shall follow you to Peking or wherever Hung Li takes you, and then go at once and tell the English gentleman where you are. You have no need to fear now,' turning to Nelly, 'that you will not get home.'
'And can't An Ching come with us?'
'I dare not take her,' said Chang, 'but perhaps your father can arrange something. Now I willgo and ask Chi Fu what we had best do.'
Chi Fu thought that all they could do for the present was to keep the party well in sight and put up at the same inn that night. Chang returned and told An Ching this, and said they would go and get their mules. He cautioned all three not to appear to know either of them, even if they came and spoke to Hung Li.
After Chang and Chi Fu went away it seemed a very long time before Hung Li returned with another mule. He was accompanied by a man who brought a cart and took away the dead animal. Hung Li told An Ching that he had only been able to get a mule to take them as far as the next village, and they must put up there. He had brought some food, andthey prepared another meal by the roadside. The children ate sitting in the cart. As soon as they had finished, Hung harnessed the mule and then set off once more.
This was a good strong beast and took them along briskly to the next village, but as so much time had already been wasted it was late in the afternoon when they arrived.
Hung Li was now obliged to go in search of another mule and return the one he had to its owner. By the time this was done, it was too late to start again that day.
The inn was about a hundred yards from the main road. It stood in an open space and was reached by a narrow winding path. All round and between the inn and the road was short grass and stubble. But on the opposite side of theroad, a short distance on the way they had come, there was a hillock with a clump of trees at one side. The room which had been engaged for An Ching had its door, and also a small window, opening towards the road. Nelly and Little Yi could quite well see the hillock and clump of trees on the other side of the road from the window, and they had not been long in the room before they noticed that Chang and Chi Fu were there with their mules. Later in the evening they saw the two come over to the inn and heard them make arrangements to put up there for the night. An Ching went outside and passed them quite close, but they took no notice of her. She heard Chang inquire of Hung Li if he were going to Peking next day.
'I am not sure,' said Hung Li, in a very surly tone.
Chang took no notice of his rudeness, but said politely:
'I hope you will permit my son and me to follow your party, as we are strangers to these parts and not very sure of the road.'
'You can if you like,' replied Hung Ching ungraciously, and walked away. An Ching felt sure he had been drinking.
Nelly was still feeling far from well when she awoke next morning. She got up early, slipped the bolt, went out on to the dewy grass and looked up the road towards Peking. The fresh air revived her, although she was still very languid and depressed when she returned to the room. An Ching was awake, and reproved her for going out.
'You know how dreadfully angryHung Li would be with me if he saw you,' she said.
But she let Nelly stand at the open window, and Little Yi, being in boy's clothing, was not prevented from going in and out as she pleased.
An Ching went as usual to get the breakfast. Hung Li was still half tipsy. He said he was in a hurry to be off, although he did not appear to be making any preparations.
Chang and Chi Fu took their mules and went to the hillock to wait until Hung Li's party started. Nelly was sitting listlessly in the room, and Little Yi had gone outside to have a look round. Presently a cloud of dust began to rise from the road in the distance, and four riders came in sight. Little Yi looked intently, suddenly turned round, and ran back to the roomwhere Nelly was, crying breathlessly:
'There's your father and another gentleman riding from Peking!'
Nelly jumped up, dashed through the door and into the grassy space, paused a moment to look, and set off as fast as she could go. How she ran! but her legs felt weak, something thumped in her head, and her heart went pit-a-pat.
Mr. Grey rode with his head bent, and was looking at the ground.
'Father! father! father! do stop!' Nelly called out.
But her father did not see or hear, and there was An Ching shouting to her, and she knew that Hung Li might be after her directly.
'Father! father!' she wailed.
She thought she shouted loudly, but her voice was very weak andquite drowned by the clattering of the pony's hoofs.
Still he did not look up, and was going by without seeing her! It was too much for the poor child. She felt as though everything was turning upside down, and just as her father rode past she fell to the ground in a faint.
But Chi Fu had seen it all from the hillock; and as Nelly fell he dashed forward and stood with outstretched arms in the middle of the road, ready to stop Mr. Grey's pony. When it came up he caught hold of the bridle and turned the head right round, greatly to the astonishment of the rider.
'What does this mean?' exclaimed Mr. Grey angrily.
'Your daughter! your daughter!' replied Chi Fu, pointing to Nelly as she lay on the ground.
Mr. Grey asked no more questions, but spurred his pony and galloped back to where the little girl lay, Chi Fu running after him. He jumped off his pony and stooped anxiously over the little figure.
'It's Nelly,' he said, when he looked at the face, and he kissed her.
Mr. Grey soon saw that she was only in a faint, and taking her in his arms he carried her towards the inn, feeling very happy to have recovered his little girl. When Little Yi came up he recognised her in spite of her boy's clothing, and giving her a kindly pat on the head he told her to keep close to him and run to get some water as soon as they were at the inn. Little Yi showed him the room they were occupying and went for the water, while Mr. Grey sat with his child on his knee.
When her father bathed her head with the water Nelly soon recovered. Her happiness and delight when she found herself in her father's arms cannot be described. Let each girl who reads this imagine it for herself.
With the help of Little Yi, who talked sixteen to the dozen, Nelly soon told her father the whole story. Then came such a string of questions, about Nelly's mother and Baby Buckle, and all Nelly's Peking friends and Little Yi's as well! The talking was nearly all in Chinese. Nelly found it difficult to get back into English, she said.
'You will make Hung Li give up An Ching and take her with us, father, won't you?' asked Nelly.
'I'll see what I can do,' her father promised, 'but I am afraid it cannot be managed.'
'It can be done easily enough if you will buy her, Sir,' said Little Yi. 'Hung Li does not like her, and he loves money.'
This was a new idea to Mr. Grey. He thought he might be able to arrange it after all. 'We will go and see them and talk about it,' he said.
The courtyard of the inn was in a state of great confusion when Mr. Grey and the children entered it. Hung Li was raging and fuming in a dreadful way, while An Ching stood by with a frightened face. The two Changs were trying to explain things to the Legation student who had come with Mr. Grey from Peking to go with him to Yung Ching in search of Nelly.They had started as soon as Nelly's letter reached the Legation. This young gentleman, who had been in China only a short time, understood very little Chinese, and Chang and Chi Fu were trying to talk to him by signs. It was funny to see them pointing to the wall, a basket, red paper and a rope. The poor student was hopelessly muddled, but the Chinese grooms who had come with him and Mr. Grey quite understood and were enjoying themselves thoroughly. The inn-keeper was shouting directions to every one, and his wife trying to question An Ching, who was in a terrible fright. A crowd of villagers began to collect, and every one was talking at once.
Leaving the children in charge of his companion, Mr. Grey pushed his way into the midst of thethrong, shouting at the top of his voice:
'Where's the man who stole my daughter?'
The noise stopped at once. A dozen pair of hands seized Hung Li and An Ching and brought them face to face with Mr. Grey, while the crowd closed eagerly round.
Hung Li was dreadfully afraid. He had counted on the children being handed over by his friend the barber in exchange for a nice round sum of money, and had never thought the affair would bring him within arm's length of a fierce foreigner.
'Why did you do this?' asked Mr. Grey sternly.
'I did not,' said the coward. 'It was my mother who stole the child and hid her from me. I was taking her back to Peking.'
'Very well,' said Mr. Grey, 'I must hand you over to the magistrate.'
This was quite enough for Hung Li, who knew that if he were once inside a Chinese prison he might have to stay there a very long time.
'Don't tell me any lies,' Mr. Grey continued. 'You kept my daughter shut up in your house, and she might have died if it had not been for your wife.'
Hung Li grunted, but said nothing.
'But,' went on Mr. Grey, 'I will let you go on one condition, that you give up all claim to your wife and let her come to live with my daughter in Peking, and I will give you fifty taels for her.'
Hung Li did not expect to be let off so easily. 'Take the woman,' he said. 'She has no children and I don't want her.'
'All right,' replied Mr. Grey. 'I take all these people to witness our bargain.'
There was a chorus of 'Hao, hao' (good, good), from the crowd, and everybody seemed pleased.
Mr. Grey at once ordered his servant to fetch his bag containing the lumps of silver and long strings of copper cash with a hole through the middle, which are the only coins the Chinese have. The inn-keeper brought a scale; the silver was weighed and handed over to Hung Li. He went away without taking any notice of An Ching, and nobody was surprised. The Chinese do not think much of women, you see.
As for An Ching, she was delighted.
All this time Chang and his son had kept quietly in the background.They were Hung Li's neighbours and did not want to make an enemy of him. This was their Chinese caution. As soon as he had gone they came forward. Mr. Grey thanked them warmly, and told them that they should have the reward he had offered if they would come with him to Peking, which they were very glad to do.
They were soon ready to leave the inn. Mr. Grey's servant had hired a cart and good strong mule. An Ching and the children got into the cart and the others rode alongside, excepting the Legation student, who went ahead to prepare Mrs. Grey.
Nelly was almost too excited to sit still as they came into Peking, and even Little Yi was very anxious.
'How do you feel, An Ching?' asked Nelly.
'I don't know,' she replied. 'Glad and sorry, but more glad than sorry. Nobody cares for me but you now. My parents did, a little, but no Chinese girl is ever loved by her father as yours loves you.'
'That's not true,' said Little Yi, although she knew that it was.
'Well, I hope I am wrong, Little Yi. When children are as good and truthful as Nelly perhaps their parents are very fond of them; but I never knew a Chinese girl so good.'
Little Yi sniffed, but said no more.
When the large gates of the Legation were opened and the cart drove in, Nelly almost fainted again. It was a very pale, fragile-looking little creature that Mr. Grey lifted out of the cart. Mrs. Grey had been on the look-out, and could notremain indoors when she saw the party arrive. She rushed hatless across the compound, and Nelly bounded to meet her. Mother and child clung to each other with all their might, while Chu Ma fairly wept for joy to see her baby, as she called Nelly. At the same time Little Yi's parents dashed towards her and embraced her, and they all began chattering and crying. Little Yi hoped An Ching would notice how affectionate her father was.
It was not until they had gone indoors that Mr. and Mrs. Grey remembered the Changs and An Ching. When Mr. Grey at length brought An Ching into the room, Mrs. Grey kissed her too and thanked her for being so good to Nelly.
Mrs. Grey herself put Nelly to bed that night. It seemed so strange to Nelly to see everything just asshe had left it. There was actually the almanac on the wall with the coloured picture of Ruth and Boaz in the field. Nelly had pinned this almanac up months ago when she was attending a dancing class at the American Legation, because, she said, 'Boaz was doing the first position of the waltz step beautifully.' She laughed, and it did her good and she felt glad and happy. As she said her prayers that night, she felt as though she really loved God and that He quite understood when she thanked Him for the gift of a good father and mother.