'Hung Li is here,' dictated Nelly.
'How can you expect me to know how to make "Hung" and "Li"?' objected the scribe.
An Ching said that the character for 'Hung' was the same as that used for the word 'red,' and she thought she could make the 'Li.'
She took the pen and did it, very badly and quite crooked.
Then Little Yi found she was not able to make 'is.' She missed that and put 'here.'
The letter then read, 'We not come. Hung Li here.'
'That's enough,' said An Ching. 'Fold it up and put any character which means Chang on the outside.'
Little Yi did so, and they screwed the bit of paper up with a pebble inside and threw it over the wall.
The preparations for departure were very few and simple. They had no luggage. An Ching had a small bundle with some extra clothing, comb, etc., and a box was fastened on behind the cart with cups, a tea-pot, a few cooking utensils, and some charcoal for cooking their food on the way. Nelly could hardly believe that they were to start. They had only been a few months in Yung Ching, but it seemed like years.