“Before it is too late,” he added, “I believe that it is our duty to lay our difficulties before the viceroy, and demand that he take steps at once to quell this uprising. Meanwhile we should warn all foreigners living in the foreign concession at Ku-Ling that if our diplomacy fails they must be ready to take refuge on board the gunboats. We must deal with the situation fearlessly, for only in that way can we expect success. Chang-Li-Hun must be made to see the seriousness of his inactivity.” To this clear proposal all agreed and Commander Hughes was chosen by acclamation to lead the embassy on the morrow to the viceroy’s yamen. Two other commanders were selected, and then with many expressions for success the council adjourned. “I have my doubts of the utility of a conference with the viceroy,” Langdon told the lads the next morning at the breakfast table. “He’s a tricky Chinaman and generally has his own way. “Well, we shall soon see,” he ended as an orderly appeared to summon him and Phil to be ready within fifteen minutes to accompany their captain on the mission to the high Chinese mandarin. A half hour later a bright array of uniformed officers landed on the jetty; there were three of the gunboat captains and their aides, all in full dress uniform, which is prescribed for an official visit upon a viceroy. A line of green sedan chairs, the color portraying to the curious throngs that their occupants were of the first rank in official parlance, wended its way in single file through the guarded gates into the stench of the crowded, walled city. Each chair was carried on the muscular shoulders of four coolies, and at almost a dog’s trot, they bore their burdens over the narrow, crooked streets. Phil gazed excitedly upon the thousands of inquisitive natives, crowding so near the foreigners that the pungent odor of their bodies came distinctly to his nostrils; their ignorant faces at such close range appalled him. The chair coolies cried out hoarsely, jostling the multitude to prevent being trodden under foot by the persistent rabble. The embassy had covered but half the distance to the yamen when it was wedged tightly against a heaving mass of excited yellow bodies. Phil saw the faces of the crowd darken with a superstitious loathing; he seemed to read in their cruel eyes an awakening to the knowledge of their power, and the helpless plight of the despised “foreign devils”. The multitude pressed ever closer; reaching out their claw-like talons to touch the gold-embroidered uniforms of the naval officers. The lad cast a swift glance at Langdon next him; he felt confident he would read in his face the extent of the danger threatening them. The pilot was shouting unintelligible words to his chair coolies; the while his face was black with passion.