'I hope so. By-the-bye, do you feel hungry?'
'Very,' Charlie answered, speaking for Fred as well as for himself.
'Then I'll ask the boat-owner to sell us a couple of ducks I know he has on board.'
Ping Wang returned to his friends presently, holding in his hands two well-cooked ducks.
'We shall soon polish these off,' Charlie said, as he, Fred, and Ping Wang took their seats under the awning, with the ducks on a big wooden plate on their knees.
'Your appetite always was enormous,' Fred remarked. 'But I was thinking whether we ought not to save one of them. Ping Wang, shall we have any difficulty in obtaining food to-morrow?'
'I don't think so,' Ping Wang replied. 'However, it would be a good thing to save one of the birds until the morning, so that we may have a good meal to start the day.'
One duck was therefore kept, and the other eaten. Ten minutes after the meal, Charlie, Fred, and Ping Wang were sound asleep, with the duck near them on the wooden dish in which it had been served up. When they awoke at daybreak the dish was where they had left it, but the duck had disappeared.
'This is serious,' Ping Wang said. 'One of the boatmen must have stolen it. I will ask them.'
He did so; but the men promptly vowed that they had not stolen the duck. They did not appear at all surprised, however, when the accusation was made; and Ping Wang concluded that they were not speaking the truth.