there until the
anti-foreign feeling had grown less strong.

Ping Wang was the first to reach the corner. To the astonishment of his
friends he stopped short, with an exclamation of surprise. Charlie and
Fred were at his side in a moment and saw at once the cause of his
astonishment--the town gates were closed!

The surprise which they showed on seeing that the gates were closed did
not cause any comment or notice among the people standing near, for they
too had been surprised and annoyed by the same thing. Chin Choo had
given the order for the gates to be shut, and the soldiers dared not
open them until they received from him a command to that effect.

After a time the crowd began to disperse, some of the people wandering
off to find lodgings for the night, and others sitting down by the
roadside in the hope that, before long, the gates would be thrown open.
Among the latter were the Pages and Ping Wang. They found a dark corner,
and sat there almost entirely hidden from passers-by. Ping Wang sat in
front of his friends, so that if any one did peer into their corner he
would see him, and conclude that his companions were Chinamen. A long
silence was at last broken by the shouts of an advancing mob.

'They've discovered their mistake,' Charlie declared, 'and are
continuing the search for us.'

'Don't talk,' Ping Wang said, and once more they became silent,
listening eagerly to distinguish what the mob was shouting. In a few
minutes their suspicions were confirmed, for the cry which burst from
hundreds of throats was one that there was no need Ping Wang to
translate--Charlie and Fred understood only too well what it meant.

'Kill the foreigners!' Nearer each moment came the crowd, every man
uttering the same cry. Soon it came in sight. At the head of the mob was
Chin Choo in his palanquin, wearing the yellow head-cloth of the Boxers.

'They're Boxers,' Ping Wang whispered, 'and evidently they have no idea
that we are alive.'

This was welcome news to Charlie and Fred, and remembering that they too
were members of the Boxers' Society, they watched the crowd with great
interest. Every Boxer wore his yellow head-cloth, and carried a weapon
of some sort. A few only had rifles, the remainder being armed with
swords, knives, bows and arrows, and sticks.

When the Boxers had arrived at the town gates, Chin Choo addressed his
followers from his palanquin. He declared that the foreigners had come
to the Middle Kingdom