harlie, jumping up; 'we must
bolt.'

The Chinese woman was so startled by his voice that she moved hurriedly
back, and, being unsteady on her tiny crippled feet, she toppled over
and fell, shouting to her husband to come and catch the foreigners.

'There is no one about,' Fred declared, when all three had scrambled out
of their hiding-place, 'so we will get a pigtail at once.'

Fred and Ping Wang without a moment's hesitation ran to the nearest
execution pole, and by tugging vigorously at it brought it to the
ground.

'Have you a knife?' Fred said to Ping Wang, who immediately produced
one, which, fortunately, was fairly sharp. Quickly, and as reverently as
possible, Fred performed the task which his brother's need had made
necessary, and placing the pigtail in his pocket he started off,
accompanied by Ping Wang, to rejoin Charlie, who had been having a busy
and exciting time. When Fred and Ping Wang ran to obtain a pigtail, he
dashed off towards the cart, and the cartman, seeing him coming, and
believing that he intended to rob him of his one hundred cash, left his
horse and vehicle and bolted across country. But Charlie, of course, had
no intention of acting the highway robber. He unharnessed the horse, and
turning him round started him off in the direction from which he had
come. But the horse knew that his stable was at Kwang-ngan, and had a
very natural objection to being sent in the reverse direction. After
trotting about twenty yards he turned round, and, breaking into a
gallop, approached Charlie, who stood in the middle of the track, with
arms extended, to stop his progress. But the cunning horse pretended
that he was going to pass on the right of Charlie, and, as soon as
Charlie jumped aside to stop him, changed his course suddenly and shot
by him on the left.

It was fortunate, however, that the horse did insist upon going towards
Kwang-ngan, for, when the Pages and Ping Wang followed in the same
direction, they saw two Chinamen coming towards them.

'Let us pretend that the horse has escaped from us,' Charlie suggested,
and they broke into a run. The horse hearing their footsteps, changed
his leisurely walk to a trot. The Chinamen made no attempt to stop him,
but stood aside to let him pass, and laughed and jeered at the pursuers.

'Well, I am glad that they did not stop the horse,' Charlie declared.
'But what are we going to do now? Chase that wretched horse all the way
to Kwang-ngan?'

'No,' Ping