Mabel was lying with her eyes half–closed and her cheeks flushed with fever, and Rex, seeing that it was of no use trying to rouse her to say good–bye, kissed Jenny and went quietly out of the room.
“I shall keep your clothes until I come back again, Sandwich,” Rex said when he was taking leave of his friend.
“You are perfectly welcome to them if you donʼt bring them back,” the other laughed. “I have any number of suits, and if trouble comes on we shall not be particular about washing.”
“I expect I shall be back before long, for if there is a row here I should like to be in it.”
Rex and Ah Lo went to the railway–station in time for the train which started at ten oʼclock. Several merchants and others were going down also. The journey was a tedious one, for the train travelled slowly and stopped frequently. It was just breakfast–time next morning when they arrived. Rex walked in unannounced just as his father and mother were sitting down to breakfast. They leapt to their feet with cries of surprise and delight.
“I cannot blow you up now, Rex,” his father said after the first joy of the meeting had passed, “but it was the maddest thing that I ever heard of. I am too glad, however, at your safe return to scold you. We were beginning to lose all hope of your return. We thought you might get to Chafui, and of course it was a great satisfaction that you had Ah Lo with you; but when you found that everyone had been massacred, what prevented you from returning at once?”
“The fact, Father, that I found that they were not all massacred. My uncle and aunt had both fallen, but the girls were prisoners in the governorʼs yamen. It was a close affair, for they were to have been given to the Boxers to be massacred the very next day. We got them out, however, and took them safely to Pekin, and they are at present staying at the Legation.”
“You have saved the dear girls!” his mother exclaimed; “that is indeed good news. But where are they?”
“They are at Pekin, Mother. They bore up splendidly until they got there, and then they broke down, and the doctor said that they would need careful treatment and rest before they could be moved. So I ran down here to tell you of my safety, and am going back again in a few days to bring them home. I will give you full particulars when I have got into my own clothes and had some breakfast. We brought a good stock of provisions with us, but finished the last morsel yesterday afternoon. It has been a tremendously long journey, and, as you may imagine, I am pretty peckish. Before sitting down, however, I will run upstairs and change, for I must have a wash before eating. I shall be down again in ten minutes.”
He soon returned, and his father and mother asked no questions until he had finished breakfast, except that his mother asked how he had left the girls.