"So small and yet not alarmed," commented one wonderingly.
"What would you," rejoined the boy, "when a house is on fire even the timid must act."
This sententious remark, which he had often heard his seniors use, and which his ready memory had stored for use, so favourably impressed the three that presently when they rested they invited him to share their food. His prodigious appetite amused them—he ate everything that was offered down to the last crumb. But when one produced a leather bottle and a little pewter wine-cup and offered him a drink, his caution returned. He knew well from experience that drowsiness would rapidly come if he indulged himself.
"I am unable to use wine," he said in the set phrase of the native teetotaller.
"We trust that your uncle will reward you," they remarked approvingly.
"I am only a clumsy fellow unable to read and entirely untrained," he answered in the way which modesty and good manners demanded.
It was late afternoon before they saw the town of Yangtsun loom up in front of them. It was easy to make out, as a long low city wall flanked it. Several others had joined the party and the conversation was general, each trying to pick up something from his fellows which would reassure him.
"It is said that our soldiers are massed, less than twenty li from here, and that there is the remnants of a foreign army who have taken refuge in an arsenal opposed to them," said the latest arrival.
"Is that supposition true, do you think?" asked the boy in an undertone of the three men with the saddlebags.
"We fear so," they said in the same undertone, "for the seaport is closed to all. Our business is there and many bales of our wool are involved. Our plan is to remain in hiding in Yangtsun until it is possible to move. One way or another the fighting is sure to go. Then, by some path, we may be able to reach the seaport which we must do to save our interests from ruin."