.'

'That is a good suggestion,' Charlie declared. 'Don't you think so, Ping
Wang?'

'You would be safer here,' said Ping Wang, 'but if you wish to go out, I
will come with pleasure. We must not go far. We needn't wear our
beehives. We will keep in the shade.'

[Illustration: "Fred was the first to be operated on."]

'We mustn't walk three abreast, I suppose?' Fred remarked, as they
quitted the premises.

'No,' Ping Wang answered. 'It will be better to walk single file. I'll
walk in the rear, so that I can keep watch on you, and hurry forward if
any of my countrymen speak to you. Don't walk fast.'

Charlie stepped into the street, Fred followed, and Ping Wang brought up
the rear. At first Charlie and Fred felt decidedly uncomfortable, and
fancied that every one who glanced at them had discovered that they were
not Chinamen.

(_Continued on page 300._)

[Illustration: The Giant's Hall, Luray.]

WONDERFUL CAVERNS.

VIII.--THE CAVERNS OF LURAY.

The United States of America, forming such a huge country, seem to have
been provided by Nature with fittings on a similar scale. Niagara, the
Rocky Mountains, the big trees of the Yosemite Valley, the wonders of
Yellowstone Park and the Mammoth Cave are instances of this, and the
caverns of Luray, some eighty miles from Washington, are both in size
and beauty not unworthy of their mighty mother-land. They were only
brought to light in 1878, although the existence of several small
hollows in the neighbourhood had suggested that larger caverns might be
found, and it was when actually looking for another entrance into one of
the known grottoes that a Mr. Andrew Campbell accidentally came upon
this wonder of the world. With an eye to business, the find was without
delay turned to profit, and a Company formed which has lighted the
caverns with electricity and put staircases and paths for the
convenience of visitors, who flock there in great numbers. Some idea of
the vast size of the caves may be gained from the fact that the electric
wire is three and a half miles long, and that this only illuminates the
chief halls and galleries. Each visitor carries a tin reflector to
penetrate dark corners and smaller passages.

One curious cavern is called the Fish Market, from rows of fish-shaped
stalactites hanging from the roof, looking exactly like bass or catfish
hung on a string. Another is known as the Toyshop, from quantities of
stalactites twisted into all possible