Page:Ballinger Price--Fortune of the Indies.djvu/151

 up on the bank of Shanghai's river. It was a clamorous, modern rail-terminal, with big white buildings, and the stamp of the West strong upon it. Here the Delphian came to rest, with her great engine still at last, only sizzling sleepily to herself at intervals. The boys said a regretful farewell to her. If their business was finished in time, they hoped to return with her, but just now the thought of returning seemed far ahead.

Feeling very strange in their shore-clothes, they took the river-boat for Shanghai, more excited than they had been at all so far. In the twelve miles the Whangpoo narrowed gradually; more and more houses and thatch-roofed farms showed on the shores; then Western factories and mills lined the water-front, and the narrow channel became almost impassable with craft of every sort. Each vessel that possessed a whistle was blowing it, and the air was filled with the shriek of sirens, the shouts of irate steamer-captains, and the yells of the native boatmen.

But the Ingrams were in Shanghai at last. The earth felt strangely solid and steady; their feet seemed light and insignificant. They