t him
almost continuously while they were on the cart, and when he was in the
road helping to get the vehicle out of a rut, he could see her still
peeping out at him. When the cart had stuck in the mud for the tenth
time in half an hour, Charlie whispered to Fred, as they were
extricating it, 'I have had enough of this. Let's walk.'

Fred nodded his head, and then told Ping Wang their decision. Ping Wang
was as ready as they to get away from the cart, and when it had been
pushed and pulled out of the rut he informed the cart-owner that they
were about to leave him.

'Noble brother,' he said, 'if your dogs of servants walk, your
magnificent carriage will be lighter, and not stick in the mud so
frequently.'

'Noble brother,' the cart-owner answered, with a savage expression on
his face, which proved that he considered Ping Wang far from being
noble, 'you will not forget that you promised to pay your humble slave
one hundred cash.'

Ping Wang paid the cart-owner. But when the woman saw that the money was
safe in her husband's wallet, she stretched forth her hand, seized
Charlie's pigtail, and tugged at it with all her strength.

'Foreigner!' she screamed as she fell backwards in the cart with the
pigtail, and skull-cap attached, in her hand.

'Foreigners!' the man shouted, on seeing Charlie's unmistakably European
head--for his beehive had fallen off--and, seizing Ping Wang's pigtail
with both hands, pulled it with tremendous force.

Ping Wang shouted with pain, but the cart-owner being convinced that if
he pulled hard enough the pigtail would come off, tugged still more
vigorously.

In great pain Ping Wang suddenly turned right about, and, before the
cart-owner had time to move, seized his own pigtail with his mouth,
about an inch from his tormentor's hands, and held it tight between his
teeth. The cart-owner continued to tug viciously, but Ping Wang struck
him several blows on the face with his fist, and finally compelled him
to release his hold.

In the meanwhile Charlie had climbed into the cart, and was struggling
with the Chinese woman to regain his pigtail. At first he thought that
she was sitting on it, but when he pulled her up, he found he had been
mistaken.

'Foreigner! Foreigner!' she screamed as he searched about the cart, and
frequently she struck him with her open hands.

'If you won't keep quiet, madam,' Charlie said, 'I shall have to put you
out.'

He caught hold of her with the intention