A GORGE WITH GREAT WALL IN DISTANCE.
When, however, we had made our halt, and breakfast was being prepared, and there were still no signs of him, we began to get anxious, and in making inquiries, we heard that he had passed our halting-place, and been met by carters coming from the Pekin direction. We still consoled ourselves with the thought that he would soon find out his mistake and retrace his steps, but when it was time to yoke up and make a fresh start, nothing had been seen of him.
We were now very anxious about him, so divided ourselves into two parties, the carts and servants going one road, while we went another, which passed through several small towns and ran parallel to the road taken by the carts. Both parties made inquiries as they went along, and for some thirty li we still heard of him; he seemed to have walked straight ahead, never stopping except to buy some food. His clothes and gait, as well as his dark face, made him very conspicuous, so that the various guards on the town gates always noticed him; but after going about ten miles we lost all trace of our faithful Duffadar, and all we could do was to give notice of his disappearance in different places, and ask the people to show him which way we had gone. The most unlucky part of the business was that he could not speak a solitary word of Chinese, and might get himself into trouble, but fortunately we were in northern, and not central or southern China, so we felt sure that sooner or later he would turn up.[16]
In some of the towns we passed through we saw quantities of "spirit's paper" lying about the streets, or hanging up in the shops for sale. This spirit's paper is simply round pieces, cut to represent cash, each sheet of paper representing any number, or gilt to represent silver or gold. These are bought by the people and scattered about the houses, or put in holes in walls and tree trunks, where they are found by restless, wandering spirits, who, poor creatures, are easily deceived into thinking them offerings of great value, and consequently refrain from injuring the pious, but economical offerer. They also burn large quantities of this paper money, and effigies of carts, horses, and other signs of worldly wealth, all of which go to improve the social status of their ancestors in the nether world.[17] The Chinaman, though decidedly superstitious and pious, according to his lights, rarely allows his regard for his ancestors to overcome that for his own pocket.
This was to be another very long day, so we halted for an hour, about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, and fed the animals, we ourselves buying some splendid grapes for forty cash a pound. These are grown south of the town of Shuen-Hua-Fu; also quantities of millet (huang-mi[18]), which is ground up and eaten like rice by the poor classes.
While wandering round, telling people of Shahzad Mir's disappearance and looking at the various shops, we saw hung up in a cage on the city gate the head of a man who had been found guilty of theft, and next to this gruesome relic were the shoes of several officials, whose ability or zeal in discharge of their duties had merited this special distinction; thus are the best and the worst of men's deeds kept fresh in the minds of the Chinese people.
We were just about to make our third start for the day when two Russian merchants entered our inn. We were much struck by the promptitude with which they extracted their revolvers from the sedan chairs in which they were travelling, and placed them in handy and conspicuous positions on top of their luggage. Curiously enough the only language in which we could converse with them was Chinese, which one man spoke fluently; and it was a great relief when we learnt that we need have no fear of the Gulf of Pe Chili being frozen over, for we were still in plenty of time.
We still had sixty li to do before halting for the night at Huai-Lai-Hsien, so we shoved along as fast as the mules could go, but the last twenty li or so were done in pitch darkness and bitter cold. The gates of the suburb were closed when we arrived, but we got them open with some difficulty, after considerably exaggerating the importance of the high official posts we both occupied. We had done nearly fifty miles since morning, so were glad to get an excellent Chinese concoction of eggs, and tumble into our blankets as quickly as might be.