“Master—what—I—I”—exclaimed the terrified Soun, whose limbs shook like those of a foundered horse.

      “Don’t blame any one but yourself, your tongue, and your own foolishness.”

      “Come, Soun!” cried Fry-Craig.

      “Into the shafts!” repeated Kin-Fo, looking at what pigtail remained to the unhappy valet. “Into the shafts, animal! and mind you do not jolt me, or”—

      Kin-Fo’s first and middle finger of the right hand, brought together after the manner of scissors, so well completed his thought, that Soun passed the reins around his shoulders, and seized the shafts with both hands. Fry-Craig placed themselves on both sides of the wheelbarrow; and with the aid of the breeze the little band moved off at a gentle trot.

      We must renounce any attempt to describe Soun’s mute, powerless rage, when he had passed into the place of a horse. And yet Craig and Fry often consented to relieve him. Very fortunately the south wind came to their aid, and performed three-quarters of the work. The wheelbarrow was well balanced by the position of the central wheel; and the work of the man in the shafts became like that of the steersman at the helm of a ship: he had only to maintain himself in the right direction.

      And in this equipage Kin-Fo might have been seen travelling through the western provinces of China, walking when he felt the need of stretching his limbs, and being trundled in the wheelbarrow when he needed rest.

      Thus Kin-Fo, having avoided Houan-Fou and Ca-fong, ascended the banks of the celebrated Imperial Canal, which, not quite twenty years ago, before the Yellow River had resumed its course through its former bed, formed, a beautiful navigable route from Sou-Tcheou, the tea-country, as far as Pekin, a distance of about a hundred leagues.

      Thus he crossed Tsinan and Ho-Kien, and went through the province of Pe-che-Lee, where is situated Pekin, the quadruple capital of the Celestial Empire.

      Thus also he passed Tien-Sing, a large city of four hundred thousand inhabitants, which is protected by a fortified wall and two forts, and whose large port, formed by the junction of the Pei-ho and the Imperial Canal, makes—by importing cotton goods from Manchester, woollen goods, copper, iron, German matches, sandal-wood, etc., and by exporting jujubes, water-lily leaves, and tobacco from Tartary, etc.—a sum amounting to seventy millions. But Kin-Fo did not once think of visiting the celebrated Pagoda of Infernal Torments in this curious Tien-Sing. He did not pass through the entertaining Streets of Lanterns and Old Clothes in the eastern suburb; nor breakfast at the Restaurant of Harmony and Friendship, kept by the Mussulman Leou-Lao-Ki, whose wines are famous, whatever Mahomet may think of them; nor leave his big red card, for good reasons, at the palace of Li-Tchong-Tang, the viceroy of the province since 1870, a member of the Privy Council and also of the Council of the Empire, and who bears, with the yellow jacket, the title of Fei-Tze-Chao-Pao.

      No! Kin-Fo, constantly being trundled in the wheelbarrow, and Soun constantly trundling him, crossed the wharves where mountains of sandbags were piled. They passed the outskirts of the city, the English and American concessions, the race-grounds, the country covered with sorghum, barley, sesamum, vineyards, kitchen-gardens, rich in vegetables and fruits; and plains whence depart, by the million, hares, partridges, and quail, which are chased by the falcon, the merlin, and the hobby. All four followed for twenty-four leagues the paved road which leads to Pekin between trees of various essences and the tall reeds of the river, and thus arrived safe and sound at Tong-Tcheou; Kin-Fo still being valued at two hundred thousand dollars, Craig-Fry sound as at the beginning of the journey, and Soun out of breath, limping, and foundered in both legs, and having only three inches of a queue on the top of his cranium.

      It was now the 19th of June. The time granted Wang would expire in a week.

      Where was Wang?

1 In Southern China streams and rivers are indicated by the termination “Kiang;” in Western China, by the termination “Ro.”

2 Léon Rousset.

      CHAPTER XIII.

       In Which Is Heard The Celebrated Lament Called “the Five Periods In The Life Of A Centenarian.”

       Table of Contents

      “Gentlemen,” said Kin-Fo to his two bodyguards, when the wheelbarrow stopped at the entrance to the suburb of Tong-Tcheou, “we are now only forty leagues from Pekin, and it is my intention to stop here until the time that the agreement between Wang and myself shall have ended. In this city of four hundred thousand souls it will be easy for me to remain unknown, if Soun does not forget that he is in Ki-Nan’s service, a humble merchant in the province of Chen-Si.”

      “No, certainly not: Soun would not forget it again. His stupidity had forced him to fill the place of a horse the past eight days, and he hoped that Mr. Kin-Fo”—

      “Ki”—said Craig.

      “Nan,” added Fry.

      —“would not again take him from his customary work; and now, considering his fatigue, he asked just one thing of Mr. Kin-Fo”—

      “Ki “—said Craig.

      “Nan,” repeated Fry.

      —“permission to sleep forty-eight hours at least at a stretch, with bridle slackened, or rather without any harness at all.”

      “For a week if you wish,” answered Kin-Fo. “I shall be sure at least that in sleeping you will not talk.”

      Kin-Fo and his companions then busied themselves in looking for a good hotel, which was not wanting at Tong-Tcheou. This vast city is in truth but an immense suburb of Pekin. The paved road which unites it to the capital is bordered the whole length with villas, houses, agricultural hamlets, tombs, small pagodas, and grassy enclosures; and on this route the travel of carriages, cavaliers, and foot-passengers is constant.

      Kin-Fo was acquainted with the city, and was escorted to the Tae-Ouang-Miao,—the Temple of the Sovereign Princes. It is simply a bonze temple transformed into a hotel, where strangers can lodge quite comfortably.

      Kin-Fo, Craig, and Fry immediately located there; and the two agents took a room adjoining that of their precious charge.

      As for Soun, he disappeared to sleep in the corner assigned him, and was seen no more.

      An hour later Kin-Fo and his followers left their rooms, breakfasted with a good appetite, and asked each other what was necessary to be done.

      “It is necessary,” answered Craig-Fry, “to read ‘The Official Gazette,’ in order to see if there is any article which concerns us.”

      “You are right,” answered Kin-Fo. “Perhaps we shall learn what has become of Wang.”

      All three then left the hotel. Through prudence, the two acolytes walked by the side of their patron, looking into the faces of the passersby without allowing themselves to be approached by any one. They went thus through the narrow streets of the city, and reached the wharves. There a copy of “The Official Gazette” was bought, and eagerly read.

      Nothing! nothing in it but the promise of two thousand dollars, or thirteen hundred taels, to whoever would make known to William J. Bidulph the present residence

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