he high arch of the outer gate, a roar of joy and
greeting arose from the waiting crowd and with one accord every man
bowed low, covering his eyes with the wide sleeve of his left arm. The
women and girls in the crowd, and those leaning from the upper stories
of the houses, threw down before the palanquin objects that flashed
and twinkled in the sun.

Remembering in time, for he had been so much absorbed he had
momentarily forgotten it, Chris whipped out his spyglass and looked at
the curtains of the palanquin. The thin silk was transparent enough
under the strong focus of the glass, and behind it Chris could
perceive, leaning delicately against silk cushions, a Chinese girl as
beautiful as a dream. Her slightly uptilted eyes were large and dark,
her skin put a magnolia flower to shame, her mouth was lifted in a
charming smile, and her long exquisite fingers held a spray of jeweled
flowers. All about the palanquin rained a shower of jeweled buds and
petals, for no doubt a real flower was thought too inferior for the
only child of the Descendant of the Sun and the Moon, Prince of all
the Isles, and Lord of the Seven Seas, the Princess of China.

CHAPTER 29

Chris put down his spyglass and the two boys, hidden on the piny
knoll, watched the procession out of sight.

"I'm supposed to take something from her," Chris said with his eyes
sparkling, "but I know now what I'm going to give her back in return.
I feel sort of sorry for that girl," he added thoughtfully.

"What're we going to do, Chris?" Amos wanted to know. "What-all comes
next, and have we some more of those dates?"

Chris passed him some. "We have to wait until dusk anyway," he said,
his voice abstracted, "and by the look of the light that won't be
long."

The piny knoll was steep and rocky and only two adventurous boys would
ever have reached the top. Too precipitous on which to build houses,
it rose far above the surrounding roofs of Peking. The green and
scarlet of curved tiles spread under the boys' sight like a curling
sea. Before them, stretched out in long angular wings to right and
left, swept the palace walls.

Listening and watching, the boys gathered by the silver trumpet notes
that the Princess and her retinue had re-entered the palace walls by
another gate.

Thinking about it Chris mused: I wonder if that first palanquin held
someone she's to marry? It could be. And if so, this may be her last
appearance to the people of the city