“Then I will find out for you when the next large boat goes down to Taku, and what the chances will be of getting through without harm.”
“If you will do that, lieutenant, I shall be very glad,” said Mrs. Bartlett. And then she added in a lower voice, “I am sorry that you, too, are disappointed.”
“How do you know I am disappointed?”
“You were in hopes that my husband was better, and could give you more information about Ramsey Polk. Is that not so?”
“To tell the truth, it is. But—well, we will drop that now, and hope everything comes out right in the end.”
The Bartletts wished Gilbert to wait and have some refreshments; but his time was limited, and he soon took his departure. As he hurried back to camp, he fell into a brown study.
“Matters don’t look as bright as they did,” he soliloquized. “Even if Mr. Bartlett gets well physically, his mind may be affected; and in that case his evidence in my favor won’t count. And, if he gets down to Taku and Nuggy Polk finds him, that rascal will probably do all he can to worry the poor man to death.”
CHAPTER XXI
CHARGING UPON THE NATIVE QUARTER
“We are out for a fight to-day, lieutenant, and a hot one, if I know anything about it.”
It was Captain Banner who spoke, on the day following Gilbert’s visit to the Bartletts. The young lieutenant had succeeded in getting a guard of one for the tea warehouse, but had been unable to learn anything concerning the boats on the Pei-Ho. Troops were coming in rapidly; and shipping arrangements were, consequently, much confused.