"I reckon you don't know how fast we have been traveling," said the officer. "Fear led me to take risks. I'll admit that."
"I want to look through the city before I leave the country," Ned remarked.
"You are standing now where the allied armies encamped in 1900," the officer went on. "You doubtless recall the time the allied armies were sent to Peking to rescue the foreign ambassadors during the Boxer uprising? That was an exciting time."
"Hardly," laughed Ned, "although I have read much about that march. I must have been about eight years old at the time."
"Well here is where the American brigade encamped on the night before the start for Peking was made. At that time it was believed that the foreigners at Peking had all been murdered. I was here with the boys in blue."
"Then you ought to know the road to Peking."
"I certainly do."
"What are we halting here for?"
"There is a dispatch from Washington due you here," was the reply.
"Telegrams in China?"