o stop!' Nelly called out.

But her father did not see or hear, and there was An Ching shouting to
her, and she knew that Hung Li might be after her directly.

'Father! father!' she wailed.

She thought she shouted loudly, but her voice was very weak and quite
drowned by the clattering of the pony's hoofs.

Still he did not look up, and was going by without seeing her! It was
too much for the poor child. She felt as though everything was turning
upside down, and just as her father rode past she fell to the ground in
a faint.

But Chi Fu had seen it all from the hillock; and as Nelly fell he dashed
forward and stood with outstretched arms in the middle of the road,
ready to stop Mr. Grey's pony. When it came up he caught hold of the
bridle and turned the head right round, greatly to the astonishment of
the rider.

'What does this mean?' exclaimed Mr. Grey angrily.

'Your daughter! your daughter!' replied Chi Fu, pointing to Nelly as she
lay on the ground.

Mr. Grey asked no more questions, but spurred his pony and galloped back
to where the little girl lay, Chi Fu running after him. He jumped off
his pony and stooped anxiously over the little figure.

'It's Nelly,' he said, when he looked at the face, and he kissed her.

Mr. Grey soon saw that she was only in a faint, and taking her in his
arms he carried her towards the inn, feeling very happy to have
recovered his little girl. When Little Yi came up he recognised her in
spite of her boy's clothing, and giving her a kindly pat on the head he
told her to keep close to him and run to get some water as soon as they
were at the inn. Little Yi showed him the room they were occupying and
went for the water, while Mr. Grey sat with his child on his knee.

When her father bathed her head with the water Nelly soon recovered. Her
happiness and delight when she found herself in her father's arms cannot
be described. Let each girl who reads this imagine it for herself.

CHAPTER XIV

FATHER AND MOTHER

With the help of Little Yi, who talked sixteen to the dozen, Nelly soon
told her father the whole story. Then came such a string of questions,
about Nelly's mother and Baby Buckle, and all Nelly's Peking friends and
Little Yi's as well! The talking was nearly all in Chinese. Nelly found
it difficult to get back into English, she said.

'You will make Hung Li give up An Ching and take her with us, father,
won't you?' asked Nelly.

'I'll see what I can do,' h