"It is just like him; oh, I do hope he is not in danger."
"Rest assured," he replied, gently, "he is in God's hands, and he is doing what is right. He runs less risk than an ordinary foreigner, as he is a doctor as well as a missionary. I think the rioters at Chen-si could hardly have been aware of this fact when they attacked him."
"God keep him safe," we both murmured fervently.
"Amen," said Mr. Li. "How wonderfully God has worked hitherto. I arrived at Pekin the very day I could be of service to you. I knew that Mr. St. John was coming on here, and I have held communication with him already."
"How can he help us?" asked Mrs. Ross.
"In this way," he replied. "You cannot get into the Legation, it is fast closed, and help cannot come from there, for even if it were possible for a man to escape, he would be murdered when he set his foot outside the walls."—Mr. Li little knew of the strength, and courage, and determination of which Englishmen are capable.—"Hope lies in another direction altogether; from this house there are secret passages which lead out of Pekin; the Boxers know nothing of them, for," he added, with a touch of pardonable pride, "they were devised with great care, and were the work of many years."
"Does this house belong to you?" I asked.
"Yes," he replied, "the construction of these underground passages was a source of great interest to me in the past. I do not think that anyone in Pekin knows of their existence, for, when they were constructed, I employed Chen-si people. I knew nothing of God then, and yet all the time He was directing me to build them for your deliverance."
"It is marvellous," said Mrs. Ross, softly. "I suppose our gravest danger lies in remaining here?"
"That is so," he replied, gravely. "When Miss Nina" (he had caught my name at once, though he pronounced it in a curious kind of way) "is well enough, we must start at once."