n'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.

Nelly was still feeling rather weak and tired, and so was the poor mule.
He dragged them wearily along the road for a couple of hours, and then
his troubles were all over, for he stopped quite still and dropped to
the ground, and before Hung Li could get him out of the shafts he was
quite dead.

Of course every one was obliged to come down from the cart. Little Yi
and An Ching helped to undo the harness and Hung Li dragged the mule out
of the way. Nelly shed a few tears over the poor dead animal which had
toiled on so bravely to the end.

Hung Li was in a worse temper than ever. He wished he had never seen the
little foreign imp and big-footed Manchu child; 'and I wish I could get
rid of you as well,' he said to An Ching. At last he set off to fetch
another mule, threatening all sorts of penalties to whoever stirred from
the spot or spoke to passers-by. Before going, he propped up the shafts
of the cart and made them all get inside. They were relieved when the
angry man had gone, and tried to settle themselves comfortably in the
cart; but when he was well out of sight, Little Yi, regardless of
consequences, got out and looked round. An Ching did not trouble much,
as she knew Hung Li could not be back very soon, but when after a time
she put her head outside and could not see Little Yi at all, she became
uneasy and herself got out. Nelly did the same. They called and ran in
every direction before they found her. An Ching thought she saw
something moving behind a clump of bushes some yards away. She asked
Nelly, who could walk much better than she, to go and see. Nelly went
behind the bushes, and sure enough she saw Little Yi a long way off,
running away as hard as sh