u would have been very
comfortable. The next one will not be leaving until to-day three weeks.'

'Then let us start this afternoon,' Charlie exclaimed.

'I am quite willing,' Ping Wang said, 'if we can get you and Fred
disguised in time.--As we are going to my native village, which is a
very anti-foreign place,' he continued, addressing the manager, 'I think
that it will be wise to have my friends disguised as Chinamen.'

'If they can act up to their disguise the suggestion is an excellent
one,' the manager declared, 'for there are rumours that the Boxers or
Big Sword Society are threatening to drive out all the foreigners in the
land. If you wish to go on by this afternoon's boat there should be no
difficulty about getting your friends disguised in time. I will send for
my barber and tailor at once.'

The manager sent for the barber and tailor, and also dispatched a
message to the skipper of the boat which was sailing that afternoon, the
_Canton_. The Pages and Ping Wang had breakfast when these orders had
been given, and long before they had finished their meal the barber
arrived, the tailor following him very quickly. After breakfast the
manager took his guests up to his bedroom, and called to the barber and
the tailor to follow them. The latter had brought with him an excellent
assortment of Chinese garments, and from them Ping Wang speedily
selected suitable clothes for his English friends. He also chose, with
the aid of the barber, a couple of splendid pigtails. Charlie having
paid for the goods, the tailor departed, leaving the barber to begin
shaving the Englishmen's heads and eyebrows.

Fred was the first to be operated on, and Charlie laughed heartily when
he saw the alteration which the loss of eyebrows made in the appearance
of his brother. The barber was a quick worker, and turning his attention
to Fred's head, speedily removed with scissors and razor a large portion
of his hair. He found, however, that although Fred's hair had been
allowed to grow during the voyage, it was not sufficiently long for a
pigtail to be tied securely to it. Therefore he sewed the pigtail to the
inside of a skull-cap, and placed the cap on Fred's head.

'It is very well done,' Ping Wang admitted, when Fred was fully dressed
in Chinese garments. 'If I had glanced at you casually out of doors, I
should not have suspected that you were not a Chinaman.'

'But I don't like the idea of wearing this little cap,' Fred protested;
'