'The old lady does not appear to be in a hurry to go,' Charlie remarked. 'Hallo! she's coming over to look at the heads.'
But when the woman had hobbled to the nearest pole, she contented herself with looking up at its grim burden, and then began to hobble back towards her cart. But, before she had gone five yards, she noticed the ruin in which the Pages and Ping Wang were hiding. She stood still and gazed at it.
'She is coming over here to see what this place is!' said Charlie.
'She is,' Fred declared, and, as he spoke, the woman began to hobble in their direction.
'What shall we do?' Charlie whispered.
'Stay here,' Ping Wang answered. 'We must lie down flat and then she may overlook us.'
'Down we go,' Fred said; 'she's very near.'
About a minute later they heard the woman approach the hole in the wall, through which they had been watching her. From a grunt of annoyance which she uttered, they knew that she was not tall enough to see through. They could hear her hobbling round to the next hole, and from another grunt they guessed that she found it, like the other, above her reach. She toddled round to the third hole, which was lower down. When they heard her stop before it, they held their breath and lay motionless, wondering whether she would see them. Their suspense was soon at an end.
'Foreigners!' she shouted, wildly.
'Come on, Fred—come on, Ping Wang!' cried Charlie, jumping up; 'we must bolt.'