Held by Chinese Brigands

rveyed through his binoculars the rich, prosperous landscape of Southern China. He interested himself in the straw-hatted peasants at work

eeded up-river. A few days later, the launch arrived at the town of Pinglo--three days

a journey across country towards the north. They carried knapsacks upon their backs, and proceeded by way of the narrow paths separating the ricefields. The heat was excessiv

ked away in the corner of a picturesque valley, where

d from the walls and lay in heaps upon the floor. The place consisted of one huge hall, with several smaller rooms on either

s dauntless adventurer was the first European to reside in the ancient Tartar kingdom of Kublai Khan. But it was indeed remarkable that the fame of such great preachers as St Paul and the founder of the Mohammedan religion should have reached--across the whole of Asia--the heart of the Chinese Empire. This is no treatise on Chinese theolo

hrubs and queer-shaped deciduous trees, and there were moss-grown banks upon which one could lie at ease during the heat of the day or sleep tranquilly

nners, produced from a saucepan and a frying-pan by means of a small wood fire laid between two bricks. Neither Mr Waldron nor the judge himself showed the slightest inclination to return to the steaming valley of the river. As for Frank, he was happy all day lo

le-path which crossed the mountains at a narrow pass. To the north he found his view obstructed by another and even more rugged range of mountai

ewarded by a view that reminded him of many scenes pictured by Gustave Doré, illustrating

ey narrowed as it rose to a higher altitude, and finally became lost in mountain mist. There were few trees upon the steep, glistening slopes, and such as were to be seen we

t impossible to believe that a narrow watershed could divide landscapes so different that they might have been scenes from different planets. He glanced again at the

a hillock. When it appeared again, however, it was in mid-valley; and he recognised a party of men dressed

. A natural instinct warned him that it would not be wise to show himself. There was something in the forbidding n

spears or long, curved knives, and one or two carried pistols in their belts. All wore scarlet coats, some of which were bright and new, others being so faded that they were a kind of dirty pink. At the head of the party marched a little shrivelled man, whose sc

f blood and lust and murder. At the rear of the party was an old man, seated upon the back of a short-necked Mongolian pony. This was Men-Ching, who had

slopes of the mountains. And Cheong-Chau had shaken off the sleep of opium and, gathering his men, had issued from the tow