reward for the children. I shall take them
back at once. An Ching must go too, to look after them. The barber will
wait for us at the city gate, and send a message to the _ying kua jen_
(Englishman) as soon as we arrive. It is all settled.'

Ku Nai-nai grunted. She did not really care what became of the children,
but she told Hung Li she hoped he would make sure of the money, and that
too much of it would not stick to the barber's fingers.

An Ching was delighted, though she did not dare to show it. She left the
room, saying she must make ready. Her first care was to find the little
girls and tell them the news.

Although Nelly and Little Yi would rather have gone with Chang, they
were very pleased to hear that they were to start so soon, especially as
An Ching was to go with them.

'Then we shall not go over the wall in a basket after all,' said Little
Yi. 'I should have liked that.'

'We must write a letter at once,' said Nelly, 'and throw it into
Chang's compound.' 'Yes,' said An Ching, 'but who is to write it?'

This was a puzzle. An Ching, like nearly all Chinese women, could not
write at all, and Nelly could only do so in English.

'You know some characters, Little Yi,' continued An Ching. 'Suppose you
try.'

Little Yi felt very much flattered. 'All right,' she said. 'Give me a
piece of paper and I'll do it.'

An Ching tottered off to her room, and returned with a piece of the
rough tissue paper which the Chinese use for writing upon, a brush, a
piece of Indian ink, and a slate slab to mix it on, all tucked up her
sleeve.

Little Yi knelt down and spread her materials on the bench, while An
Ching stood ready to sit down on the letter in case Hung Li or his
mother came.

Little Yi could only make a few characters, and had never written a
letter, but she began boldly with a beautiful 'we.'

'Can not come,' said Nelly.

'I can't make "can,"' said Little Yi; so she wrote 'not' and as much as
she could remember of 'come.'

'Hung Li is here,' dictated Nelly.

'How can you expect me to know how to make "Hung" and "Li"?' objected
the scribe.

An Ching said that the character for 'Hung' was the same as that used
for the word 'red,' and she thought she could make the 'Li.'

She took the pen and did it, very badly and quite crooked.

Then Little Yi found she was not able to make 'is.' She missed that and
put 'here.'

The letter then read, 'We not come. Hung Li here.'

'That's enough,' said An Ching