to see you again. But how did you get to know I was here? I
understood from the admiral at Tien-tsin that you had gone to England
for a cargo of arms and ammunition for the Chinese Government."

"So I did," replied Drake; "and I carried out my contract, too. I've
only been back in China a couple of weeks. But we must not stay here
yarning; this is much too dangerous a place to be swapping experiences
in. These will keep until later, when we are out of this mess."

"That's so," agreed Frobisher. "But the question is, how are we to get
away? You saw for yourself what a ticklish matter it is to cross that
glass, even with stout boots on your feet and with the assistance of a
thick stick to help you to keep your balance; and upon my word I fail to
see how I am going to manage the business. You don't propose to carry
me, I take it?" he concluded, chuckling, and giving the little man a sly
dig in the ribs.

"I would even try that, and succeed too, perhaps," was Drake's reply,
"if there was no other way out. But we can do better than that. I
thought of a scheme directly I came to the edge of the glass-sown patch
and understood the game that the Chinks had been playing off upon you,
but I wasn't such a born fool as to stand there and shout it across to
you, with the chance that some yellow-skin might be up aloft there and
hear me. Besides, I wanted to see for myself whether or not the scheme
would work. And it has, for here I am, safe and sound, and not a penny
the worse for the passage.

"Now, here it is, just as simple as ABC. You are a thundering big chap,
I know, while I'm a little 'un; but I noticed long ago that your boots
and mine are pretty much of a size, while these that I'm wearing now are
a bit big for me, though they're the best I could get hold of. I just
slip these boots off, and you slip 'em on; then, with the help of this
stick, you make the passage of the glass, same as I've done, while I
stand here to watch you do it, and at the same time keep a look-out.
Then, as soon as you're across, you chuck me back the boots and the
stick, one at a time, and I'll catch 'em--I haven't been a cricketer all
these years for nothing. The rest'll be all plain sailing, and I'll be
alongside you on the right side of the glass in two shakes of a lamb's
tail. Savez?"

"Excellent!" returned Frobisher in a whisper; "and, as you say,
perfectly simple. Only, you must go first. You surely do not suppose
that I a