declared, and, although they could not see
him, they knew by his voice that their arrival was welcome. 'Wait a
moment,' he continued; 'the gate is barricaded, but I will lower a
ladder to you. Here you are!' he called down a minute later, and on
looking up they saw him lowering from the top of the wall a long bamboo
ladder. When it touched the ground they planted it firmly.

'You go first, Number One,' Charlie said, in a tone that showed he meant
to be obeyed.

'Welly good,' Number One replied, and went up the ladder as nimbly as if
it were his usual way of entering the mission station.

Fred followed Number One, and Charlie asked to be the last, but Ping
Wang objected.

'Hurry up!' Barton sang out, and Ping Wang, seeing that Charlie was
determined to be the last man up, climbed the ladder. Just as he reached
the top, and as Charlie planted his foot on the lowest rung, three men,
with knives in their hands, came running up, and Charlie was unaware of
his danger; but Fred saw the scoundrels, and slipping a cartridge into
the breach of his rifle he took aim, fired, and shot the foremost man.
The other two, who had not expected any danger, turned about and fled in
terror.

'Fred,' Charlie said, when he had climbed over the wall, 'you saved my
life.' Then he turned to Barton. 'I see that you are prepared for the
Boxers,' he said. 'We were afraid that we shouldn't get here in time to
warn you of their approach.'

'Are they on their way, then?'

'They will be here in ten minutes at the latest.'

Barton sighed. 'I had been hoping,' he said, 'that the Empress-Dowager
would have had the Boxers suppressed before they would be able to reach
here. I am afraid, however, that she is secretly encouraging them. It is
a great sorrow to my colleagues and myself to find ourselves arming
against the people among whom we have lived on friendly terms for some
years. However, we must protect our women and children. Since you left
us, eight men, five women, and four children have joined us. Some of
them have suffered terribly in their flight from the Boxers. Their own
mission stations have been destroyed, and many of their
fellow-missionaries were murdered. Consequently we may have to fight.'

'How many European men have you, and what weapons?' Fred asked.

'Thirteen, counting you and your brother, and we have eight rifles and
five revolvers. That is not including your Sniders.'

'But what about provisions?' Charlie asked.

'I h