long Ping Wang halted to rearrange his head-cloth. Charlie and
Fred turned, and stood looking at him as if they were waiting for him to
finish and march on. Their action was very natural, and the few men who
had been marching behind them passed on without a remark.

Ping Wang continued to fumble about with his head-cloth until the last
of the Boxers were out of sight. Then he said, 'Now's our time,' and
quitted the track. The bushes, which grew thickly along the roadside,
afforded ample 'cover' if they needed it.

'We must hurry through this undergrowth without being seen, and get well
ahead of the Boxers,' said Ping Wang; 'then we will rejoin the track and
run forward at full speed.'

They proceeded cautiously, but travelled quick enough to gain on the
Boxers.

'We are about level with the middle of the mob,' Ping Wang declared some
minutes later. 'We must get a good half-mile ahead of them before we
rejoin the track.'

As Ping Wang finished speaking, Fred, who had looked behind him,
exclaimed, anxiously, 'There's some one following us.'

Charlie and Ping Wang stopped short, and, looking in the direction
indicated by Fred, saw a dark figure struggling through the bushes after
them.

'Let us wait and tackle him,' Charlie suggested, but Ping Wang objected
firmly to that proposal.

'There may be other fellows following him,' he added, 'and a shout from
any one of them would bring the mob rushing over here in a moment. The
best thing that we can do is to hurry on as quickly as possible.'

'Come along, then,' Charlie said, and started running. They ran a little
more than a mile. They soon left the Boxers behind, but the man whom
they were trying to avoid still pursued them.

'He has gained on us,' Charlie declared, and Fred and Ping Wang could
not deny it.

'We must run faster,' Ping Wang said, but, as he was panting for breath,
Charlie and Fred felt sure that they would not get rid of their pursuer
by running.

'He is alone,' Fred declared; 'let's stop and see what he wants. We may
be certain that he hasn't any firearms with him, for if he had he would
have had a shot at us long before this.'

Ping Wang, however, did not agree; he preferred to keep on running. But
he sadly over-rated his running powers, and before they had gone another
hundred yards he had to stop and gasp for breath. The pursuer was now
approaching them rapidly, so Charlie and Fred grasped their knives and
waited for him. He increased hi