'We are about level with the middle of the mob,' Ping Wang declared some minutes later. 'We must get a good half-mile ahead of them before we rejoin the track.'
As Ping Wang finished speaking, Fred, who had looked behind him, exclaimed, anxiously, 'There's some one following us.'
Charlie and Ping Wang stopped short, and, looking in the direction indicated by Fred, saw a dark figure struggling through the bushes after them.
'Let us wait and tackle him,' Charlie suggested, but Ping Wang objected firmly to that proposal.
'There may be other fellows following him,' he added, 'and a shout from any one of them would bring the mob rushing over here in a moment. The best thing that we can do is to hurry on as quickly as possible.'
'Come along, then,' Charlie said, and started running. They ran a little more than a mile. They soon left the Boxers behind, but the man whom they were trying to avoid still pursued them.
'He has gained on us,' Charlie declared, and Fred and Ping Wang could not deny it.
'We must run faster,' Ping Wang said, but, as he was panting for breath, Charlie and Fred felt sure that they would not get rid of their pursuer by running.
'He is alone,' Fred declared; 'let's stop and see what he wants. We may be certain that he hasn't any firearms with him, for if he had he would have had a shot at us long before this.'
Ping Wang, however, did not agree; he preferred to keep on running. But he sadly over-rated his running powers, and before they had gone another hundred yards he had to stop and gasp for breath. The pursuer was now approaching them rapidly, so Charlie and Fred grasped their knives and waited for him. He increased his speed, and, as he drew nearer, they saw that he was wearing the yellow head-cloth of the Boxers.