Chatterbox, 1905 Part 97

'Bobby,' of course, comes from Peel's Christian name.

X.

AFLOAT ON THE DOGGER BANK.

A Story of Adventure on the North Sea and in China.

(_Continued from page 287._)

It was early one morning when the _Twilight_ arrived at Hongkong, and the Pages and Ping w.a.n.g at once went ash.o.r.e in a _sampan_, or native boat, to present a letter of introduction which they had brought from England.

Although it was only half-past six when they arrived at the Hongkong merchant's office, they found the manager, to whom their letter was addressed, already hard at work. He had received, some days before, from the head of the firm in London, notification of the Pages being on their way to Hongkong, and greeted them very cordially.

'I had hoped,' he said, after a few minutes' conversation, 'that you would have been here a day or two ago, for there is a very decent boat starting for Tien-tsin this afternoon, on which you would have been very comfortable. The next one will not be leaving until to-day three weeks.'

'Then let us start this afternoon,' Charlie exclaimed.

'I am quite willing,' Ping w.a.n.g said, 'if we can get you and Fred disguised in time.--As we are going to my native village, which is a very anti-foreign place,' he continued, addressing the manager, 'I think that it will be wise to have my friends disguised as Chinamen.'

'If they can act up to their disguise the suggestion is an excellent one,' the manager declared, 'for there are rumours that the Boxers or Big Sword Society are threatening to drive out all the foreigners in the land. If you wish to go on by this afternoon's boat there should be no difficulty about getting your friends disguised in time. I will send for my barber and tailor at once.'

The manager sent for the barber and tailor, and also dispatched a message to the skipper of the boat which was sailing that afternoon, the _Canton_. The Pages and Ping w.a.n.g had breakfast when these orders had been given, and long before they had finished their meal the barber arrived, the tailor following him very quickly. After breakfast the manager took his guests up to his bedroom, and called to the barber and the tailor to follow them. The latter had brought with him an excellent a.s.sortment of Chinese garments, and from them Ping w.a.n.g speedily selected suitable clothes for his English friends. He also chose, with the aid of the barber, a couple of splendid pigtails. Charlie having paid for the goods, the tailor departed, leaving the barber to begin shaving the Englishmen's heads and eyebrows.

Fred was the first to be operated on, and Charlie laughed heartily when he saw the alteration which the loss of eyebrows made in the appearance of his brother. The barber was a quick worker, and turning his attention to Fred's head, speedily removed with scissors and razor a large portion of his hair. He found, however, that although Fred's hair had been allowed to grow during the voyage, it was not sufficiently long for a pigtail to be tied securely to it. Therefore he sewed the pigtail to the inside of a skull-cap, and placed the cap on Fred's head.

'It is very well done,' Ping w.a.n.g admitted, when Fred was fully dressed in Chinese garments. 'If I had glanced at you casually out of doors, I should not have suspected that you were not a Chinaman.'

'But I don't like the idea of wearing this little cap,' Fred protested; 'I shall get sunstroke.'

'When you go into the sun you can wear a beehive,' Ping w.a.n.g replied, pointing to several big Chinese hats which the tailor had left for inspection.

Charlie's disguise was completed with even more speed than Fred's had been.

'It's splendid,' Charlie declared, as he surveyed himself in the gla.s.s; 'don't you think so, Fred?'

A few minutes later the barber was dismissed, and the four of them returned to the sitting-room, where the skipper of the _Canton_ was awaiting them. He shook hands with the manager and greeted the other three men in Chinese. Charlie was nearest to them, and feeling that politeness demanded that he should say something, blurted out, '_Je ne parle pas Chinese._'

The skipper looked puzzled, and the manager, who was already in a laughing humour, roared, but Ping w.a.n.g was very serious.

'I say, Charlie,' he exclaimed, 'do remember that you are not to answer any one who addresses you in Chinese, or we shall be discovered.'

The skipper looked at Charlie in surprise. It was the first time that he had heard a Chinaman called Charlie.

'Two of these gentlemen are Englishmen,' the manager explained. 'What do you think of their disguise?'

'It is excellent. If I had not heard you speak,' he added, addressing Ping w.a.n.g, 'I should never have believed that you were an Englishman.'

'I'm not one,' Ping w.a.n.g declared merrily; 'I'm a Chinaman.'

'Well, who am I to believe?' the skipper exclaimed in bewilderment.

'They are the Englishmen,' the manager answered, pointing to Fred and Charlie; 'the other gentleman is a Chinaman. But to come to the point, I want you to take my three friends to Tien-tsin. They wish to be undisturbed, and do not want it to be known that they are not Chinamen.

Therefore let every one--even the mate--fancy that they are Celestials.'

'I understand. I will have the saloon berths got ready at once. What time will they come aboard? I shall sail about four.'

'Will half-past three be early enough?'

'Half-past three, sharp, will do.'

The skipper departed a few minutes later, leaving the three travellers alone with the manager.

'Let us sit in the verandah,' the manager suggested, and for fully two hours they sat in long chairs chatting together, and watching the busy scene in the street below.

'Would it not be a good idea if we went for a short stroll?' Fred asked, after a time. 'It would accustom us to appearing in public in our Chinese garb.'

'That is a good suggestion,' Charlie declared. 'Don't you think so, Ping w.a.n.g?'

'You would be safer here,' said Ping w.a.n.g, 'but if you wish to go out, I will come with pleasure. We must not go far. We needn't wear our beehives. We will keep in the shade.'

[Ill.u.s.tration: "Fred was the first to be operated on."]

'We mustn't walk three abreast, I suppose?' Fred remarked, as they quitted the premises.

'No,' Ping w.a.n.g answered. 'It will be better to walk single file. I'll walk in the rear, so that I can keep watch on you, and hurry forward if any of my countrymen speak to you. Don't walk fast.'

Charlie stepped into the street, Fred followed, and Ping w.a.n.g brought up the rear. At first Charlie and Fred felt decidedly uncomfortable, and fancied that every one who glanced at them had discovered that they were not Chinamen.

(_Continued on page 300._)

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Giant's Hall, Luray.]

WONDERFUL CAVERNS.

VIII.--THE CAVERNS OF LURAY.

The United States of America, forming such a huge country, seem to have been provided by Nature with fittings on a similar scale. Niagara, the Rocky Mountains, the big trees of the Yosemite Valley, the wonders of Yellowstone Park and the Mammoth Cave are instances of this, and the caverns of Luray, some eighty miles from Was.h.i.+ngton, are both in size and beauty not unworthy of their mighty mother-land. They were only brought to light in 1878, although the existence of several small hollows in the neighbourhood had suggested that larger caverns might be found, and it was when actually looking for another entrance into one of the known grottoes that a Mr. Andrew Campbell accidentally came upon this wonder of the world. With an eye to business, the find was without delay turned to profit, and a Company formed which has lighted the caverns with electricity and put staircases and paths for the convenience of visitors, who flock there in great numbers. Some idea of the vast size of the caves may be gained from the fact that the electric wire is three and a half miles long, and that this only illuminates the chief halls and galleries. Each visitor carries a tin reflector to penetrate dark corners and smaller pa.s.sages.

One curious cavern is called the Fish Market, from rows of fish-shaped stalact.i.tes hanging from the roof, looking exactly like ba.s.s or catfish hung on a string. Another is known as the Toyshop, from quant.i.ties of stalact.i.tes twisted into all possible shapes, many of which suggest some well-known plaything. In one place is a huge cascade of alabaster resembling a frozen waterfall, and frequently the walls appear to be hung with curtains and draperies of gleaming white, or tinted with all shades of beautiful colours. In one cavern six curious blade-shaped stalact.i.tes are called the Major Chimes. When struck by the hand they give out sweet musical tones, the vibrations of which last from a minute to a minute and a half, and resound to far-distant parts of the caverns.

One enormous stalagmite bears the name of the Hollow Column, and measures one hundred feet round by forty feet high. This column shows plainly the overwhelming force of a current of water, as it is pierced from top to bottom, and visitors climb right up inside to explore the great galleries above the Giant's Hall. Learned people say that some time in the days of long ago, when the cave was filled with angry water trying to find a way of escape, the flood forced a pa.s.sage right through the heart of this huge stalagmite, and on subsiding left a hollow column where it had found a solid one. The 'Tower of Babel' is another wonderful sight, with twenty-two rows of dwarf columns, and from it we pa.s.s into the Giant's Hall, where the colossal stalagmites look like monster chess kings and queens standing on pedestals. One of these is particularly beautiful, being white below and changing above to a delicate rose-pink, the colour of the inside of a sh.e.l.l.