It was with a dreary sense of
ominous foreboding that I woke, as if in expectation of some disaster.
Not a living creature was visible, and I doubted the possibility of
finding anyone in such a spot. Never, surely, was there a silence
anywhere as here! Seized with a solemn fear, my presence there seemed to
me a strange intrusion. I looked around, moved forward a little,
hastened my steps to get away, but whence or how I knew not. I knew this
was a country of erratic distances--it was now getting on for
sunset--and the continuous toiling up and down the sides of the
difficult mountains had tired me. All of a sudden I heard a noise, heard
someone fall, looked round and beheld T'ong, perspiration pouring down
his back and front.
"Oh, master, this b'long velly much bobbery. I makee velly frightened. I
think p'laps master wantchee makee run away." And then, after a time:
"You no wantchee catch 'chow'?"
"Chow?"
No, I could easily have gone without food for that night. I was lost,
and now was found. I had no money, could not speak the language, was
fatigued beyond words. What would have become of me?
Miniature turret-like hills hemmed us in as in a huge park, with a
narrow winding pathway, steep as the side of a house, leading to the top
of the mountain beyond, and then descending quite as rapidly to
Fan-ih-ts'uen.
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