“The general has done his best to arrange an escape,” were the cheering words from Emmons. “To-night you will be put in a cell away from the Chinese prisoners. The door of the cell will be unlocked. Here is a plan of the yamen, and I have marked your route to the gate and safety. I shall have chairs waiting you at the gate. Success depends upon yourselves; we dare not help you farther. In this room marked in pencil you will find mandarin robes, which you must put on. The guards throughout the yamen will be removed until midnight, so you must succeed before that time. The room in which you will find disguises is occupied by the viceroy’s treasurer. He is a close friend of Ta-Ling and cannot be bought. If you are discovered the general will be powerless to save you.” “And Langdon?” Phil asked earnestly, his heart beating high with hope. “We cannot go a step without him and our four sailors.” “That is more difficult,” Emmons replied with annoyance. “He is being constantly visited by Ta-Ling. To attempt his escape may defeat all. The four sailors are in another part of the yamen and except for cruel treatment are safe for the present. The general is grateful to you for revealing this plot against his own life, but his real intention is to give your captain information as to what will happen if he attempts to run by the forts. There is, however, a channel, known to only the Chinese, leading behind and close to the long narrow island on the opposite side of the river. This island is now covered with tall reed grass which will conceal the hulls of the gunboats from the rays of the search-lights of the fort. Here is a sketch plan of this channel. If your commander will start at night and use the channel I suggest, it may be that he can take his entire fleet past the forts undiscovered. I dare not take this message myself, for my movements are closely watched. I fear even now Ta-Ling may have discovered our purpose.” “Can we depend upon this information?” Sydney whispered to Phil, as Emmons and the general rose to their feet. “Might it not be a trick to blow the gunboats up by mines in this narrow channel?” Phil put the question to Emmons, but the latter assured them of the honesty of the general. “The general believes he is serving his country in giving this information,” he added; “he knows his people will suffer through the viceroy’s treachery. If the fleet can pass without being discovered, he cannot be held guilty of disobeying the order of the viceroy. So you see it is important that this message should reach your captain in time to prevent him from carrying out his threat of running the batteries.”