Ping Wang turned round instantly, and, with a sorrowful air,
spoke to the man. Charlie and Fred guessed from Ping Wang's manner, and
the surprise which his words created, that he had declared that they
could not speak or understand.

When the people had, apparently, expressed their sorrow, Ping Wang
suddenly addressed the crowd in a loud voice. He pointed to Charlie and
Fred, and, as he did so, his tone became more indignant, his manner more
excited. When he had brought his speech to an end, the crowd behaved
like a gathering of madmen. Swords, spears, and sticks were flourished
about in a most reckless and threatening manner.

After the performance, which might be called a war-dance, had subsided,
a portly Chinaman, with a red cloth tied round his head, and cloth of a
similar colour covering his body and legs, advanced to within a yard of
Ping Wang, and shook hands with himself. Ping Wang instantly shook his
own hands. Having thus greeted each other, the two men entered into an
earnest conversation, and it was clear that they were discussing a
matter of importance from the manner in which the crowd closed on them,
so as to hear everything that was said. And then it was that Charlie and
Fred noticed that every man present was wearing either a yellow or a red
cloth round his head. The majority wore yellow ones, those who were
wearing red being, evidently, the bodyguard of the fat gentleman who was
talking to Ping Wang.

At length the conversation came to an end, and from the smile on the
portly Chinaman's face Charlie and Fred concluded, rightly, that Ping
Wang had succeeded in pleasing him. But what followed puzzled them
completely. The crowd moved back, leaving them with Ping Wang and the
big man in the centre of a circle. Then three men advanced to join them.
One was carrying a long cane, the second two lighted incense candles,
and the third a handful of square pieces of paper, on which were written
some Chinese characters. The fat man and Ping Wang then went down on
their knees, face to face, and so close to each other that their noses
almost touched. As they knelt, the man with the paper set light to one
of the pieces, and tossed it in the air above the kneeling men. As he
did so Ping Wang and the man opposite to him bent down their heads, and
butted each other gently. When the kneeling men had butted each other
seven times, the man with the cane struck Ping Wang one blow across the
back. The butting ceased at on