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178 to Gilbert. "Shung Sing flink whole house clom down on head."

"Well, you are frank about it," was Gilbert's comment. "Don't you run away again! Your mistress needs you." And the Chinaman promised to stay, but Gilbert knew that his word amounted to nothing. Shung Sing was honest and a hard worker; but he thought more of his own skin than of anything else in the world, and was prepared to run at the least alarm.

When Gilbert returned to camp, he found an earnest consultation going on among the officers. A guard was needed at a certain point along the river, where a pontoon bridge was to be put down; and it was finally decided that the guard should consist of a company of Americans and a company of British infantry. Captain Banner's command was called out; and by nightfall Gilbert found himself stationed along the Pei-Ho once more, near a row of deserted huts of bamboo and mud. There was a small road running down to the stream at this point; and the Americans guarded one side of the highway, while the English detachment guarded the other.

It was felt that the utmost caution must be