Page:On to Pekin.djvu/295

Rh "Did you speak?" asked a second Chinaman, standing within the front room of the hotel.

"I did, Tung," was the answer. "Do you see yonder American officer?" And the man at the doorway pointed with his long bony finger.

"And what of that soldier?"

"It was he who caused my brother Fun's house to be burnt down, and caused Fun and Ching Wo to be killed."

"Ah! You are sure of that?"

"I am positive." Chow Ching grated his yellow teeth. "Would that I could lay him low!"

"Would that we could lay all the foreign devils low!" answered the one called Tung.

"We will do that in time. But this man,—he helped to kill my brother!"

"Then you shall kill him."

"I will. And will you aid me?"

"I will, if we can do the deed under cover of the darkness. But we dare not shoot him. The alarm would bring a hundred soldiers around us with the speed of the wind."

"Let us follow him, and see where he goes. We may be able to get him into a corner."