w them into the
river.'

'Have I not promised you?' Ping Wang asked, haughtily. 'Do you doubt my
word?'

The boatman protested, humbly, that Ping Wang's word could not possibly
be doubted by his disreputable servant, adding, moreover, that he lived
simply to obey him.

The wooden seats under the awning were hard and uncomfortable, and
Charlie, Fred, and Ping Wang were soon tired of sitting there,
especially as they dared not talk, for fear of being overheard. Once
Ping Wang caught the boatman peeping under the awning. He seized him
quickly, and demanded his reason for prying on the sick travellers.

'Noble brother,' the boatman answered, trembling with fear, 'I wanted to
see if they were dying.'

'They are getting better,' Ping Wang declared. 'It is a good thing for
you that they are not dying, for their father is as rich as a mandarin;
and if I had to throw them overboard he would certainly have you
executed.'

Ping Wang's romancing had the desired effect. The boatman shook with
fear, and, kowtowing before Ping Wang, groaned aloud.

'I shall be glad if they will die in my boat,' he declared, without the
slightest intention of intimating that he hoped that Charlie and Fred
would die. He was too excited to speak calmly: for, though he dreaded
the spirits, he had a greater fear of mandarins.

From that minute Charlie, Fred, and Ping Wang were left undisturbed. The
boatman's four assistants shunned the awning, as if it sheltered lepers,
and were apparently greatly relieved when an opportunity occurred for
them to go ashore and tow the boat. The boatman remained on board, but,
except when Ping Wang addressed him, kept at a respectful distance from
the passengers.

(_Continued on page 308._)

WHAT KATIE HEARD.

'How very annoying!'

'It is really too bad to have this noisy creature foisted on us just
now.'

Katie stood on the doorstep of her aunt's house in a very stiff, pink
frock. Her cheeks were red and rosy, for it was a warm summer day, and
her feelings were just those of any little girl who is paying her first
real visit to an aunt in the country.

The speakers were Katie's two cousins, Janet and Clare, and the words
came very clearly through the curtains and open windows, as Katie stood
there, wondering whether the bell had really rung, or whether she had
better give it another tug. She saw her own reflection in the shining
bell-handle, and it had gone crimson all at once.

Poor Katie! Mo