nd after talking with the members of the procession, turned
to give an order.

[Illustration]

Gaily dressed trumpeters with dragon masks on the visors of their
helmets raised long brass trumpets. A prolonged throbbing "Wai! Wo!"
shuddered out, and the great outer gates of the palace, studded with
pronged spikes of carved metal, swung slowly outward. Sixteen men came
into sight, eight on either side, pushing wide the gates.

"Gee! Imagine the weight of those doors!" Chris murmured, and taking
out his spyglass looked through it. "Golly Moses!" he exclaimed. "Take
a look, Amos. Those gates are made of bronze, nearly three feet
thick! And now they have the gates open, look at the depth of the
walls. They're as deep through as a room!"

The waiting procession, the richly dressed courtiers and curtained
palanquin, moved inside and the gates were slowly pulled close by
lines of men dragging at ropes and chains to shut them. From within
the main gate drifted out the sound, becoming fainter and fainter, of
other trumpets sounding the order for the opening of other gates. Ten
times, the boys counted, the trumpets blew, and the same "Wai! Wo!"
throbbed against the sultry air.

"Lawsy me!" Amos sighed, when no more trumpets were to be heard. "Ten
walls and ten gates--at the very least! 'Course we don't know--" He
rolled his worried eyes toward Chris, "We don't know whether those
folks got to the Emperor or not. Likely he's in behind a couple more
walls, just to be on the safe side." He searched his friend's face.
"How are we going past all that many guards and trumpets, Chris? Even
if we could tie up a guard or two, how in the world we going to push
open gates that heavy?"

Amos need not have been so concerned, for Chris had a good plan. But
just at that moment the heat overcame Chris. Putting his head down on
his arms, he slept.

Amos slept too, and it must have been several hours later that the
rising sound of a crowd talking and laughing with excitement
penetrated their sleep and brought them to consciousness. For a moment
they both lay rubbing their eyes and peering out. Then they realized,
by the growing crowd on either side of the palace gate and along the
narrow street leading away from it, that someone of importance was
about to come from the palace and parade through the streets of
Peking.

"Wonder what goes on?" Chris muttered, as the crowds below swelled and
grew. Boys climbed upon one another's shoulders, te