Part 7 (1/2)

An Ching took the opportunity, when he was obliged to get down and lead it, to explain why she had told Chang she was not sure that they were going to Peking.

'I heard him say,' she jerked out, 'that if he were questioned about a foreign child on the road, or if people seemed inquisitive, he should branch off half way and go to some quiet country place. Ku Nai-nai told him he would be very foolish to do so; but he is very obstinate, and if he gets a little too much wine there is no knowing what he will do.'

'Dear me!' sighed Nelly, 'shall we ever get home?'

'To be sure you will,' replied An Ching. 'Chang will let the foreigners in Peking know where you have been, and your letter will be sent.'

'Yes, and mother will know that I am well,' thought Nelly.

They went on until they came to the river, which it was too late to cross, even if the mule had been able to do it. There was a small inn close at hand. Hung Li knocked at the door, roused the inn-keeper, and asked for one small room for his wife and children. He said that one of them, a boy, had hurt his leg, and he should carry him in. Nelly found that she was the boy. An Ching bundled her up well about the head, and Hung Li carried her to the kang, where she was soon fast asleep.

'You will have to carry Little Yi too,' An Ching told Hung Li. 'If the inn-keeper sees her feet he will never believe she is your child.' Hung Li did so, pretending that he did not want her shoes to get wet. Then, being afraid that the mule might die, he gave it a good feed and comfortable quarters for the night.

Next morning the children were very stiff, and would have liked to run about, but they were kept shut up in the room while An Ching fetched their food, and as soon as the cart was ready they were carried back to it, with the same excuses.

It was with great difficulty, in spite of the good food and rest which had been given to the mule, that it was able to pull the cart up the steep muddy bank after crossing the river. It stood panting hard for some time when the task was finished, quite regardless of the blows administered by the cruel driver.

'You'll never get to Peking with that mule,' called out the ferryman as they started.

They went along very slowly. An Ching suggested, when they arrived at a quiet, open part of the road, that the children should walk to lighten the cart, and they were very glad to be out in the fresh morning air; even An Ching got out when they came to a slight incline, but Hung Li took care to make the children climb in again whenever he saw a human being approach.

Now that Yung Ching was well behind them, Hung Li decided not to urge the mule too much, in case it died before he was able to return it to the man from whom he had hired it in Peking; so that morning pa.s.sed pleasantly enough. The children gathered flowers by the wayside, and the suns.h.i.+ne made Nelly hopeful. It was a delight to be in the country, with all so fresh and cool after the rain. At mid-day they pa.s.sed through a dirty village, where they bought some eggs and bread. When they were well outside the village they cooked the eggs and took a meal, after which the mule was unharnessed and fed, greatly to his surprise, and the children had a sleep in the cart, while Hung Li and An Ching reposed on some straw close by.

That afternoon they pa.s.sed a funny little hut with a red dog painted on the door, which Nelly remembered to have seen on the journey from Peking. She wondered if they would go to any of the same inns they had stayed at before, but Hung Li carefully avoided them, and took a different road as often as possible.

When they put up at the inn that night the children were again carried, with the same explanations, although the ground was not very wet this time.

'To-morrow we shall be in Peking,' said Nelly delightedly.

'No,' replied An Ching. 'We have come very slowly; we shall be three nights on the road this time.'

Nelly was disappointed, but made the best of it. She slept badly that night, and had a headache the next morning.

An Ching was away a long time getting the breakfast, and when she returned with her hands full she was very excited.

'One of the placards offering the reward for you two has just been stuck on the wall of this inn,' she exclaimed. 'Hung Li is in a great rage. He says he must be off at once. He intends to get another mule and hurry off to Peking.'

'So he is not going to take us to some other place? I am so glad,' said Nelly.

'No, he seems to have changed his mind. I am to get a small coat for Little Yi, and she is to pretend to be a boy.'

'Why me?' exclaimed Little Yi. 'My ears are pierced. I could not be a boy, and I won't. Nelly was the boy yesterday.'

'What does it matter? No one will notice the holes in your ears if you take out the earrings, and then you can run about. Nelly must not be seen at all, Hung Li says. It's no use objecting. You'll have to do it.

You naughty boy!' she shouted, as she heard Hung Li and another man talking outside the door.

Little Yi and Nelly giggled. Then An Ching locked them in and went to buy the coat. There was very little difference between it and the one she was wearing. An Ching saw that Little Yi's queue was right, took out her earrings, and then removed her bracelets.

Nelly was carried to the cart in a bundle, and Little Yi, in no amiable mood at having lost her earrings and wooden bracelets, was hustled in after An Ching.