To go again to the mission-house would arouse suspicion, so Shelford wandered about the town all the forenoon in the hope of accidentally meeting someone from the mission. As time went on he became more and more anxious. That he was being closely watched he knew, and at last he dared no longer wander about apparently aimlessly, so he once more returned to the inn and ate. If only by good providence the missionaries would send a message to him! Two more hours were wasted, Shelford sitting and smoking in apparent calmness in the chief room of the inn, holding conversations with all who addressed him, but inwardly chafing and cursing his forced inaction. There was now only an hour of daylight left; something had to be done. He called the innkeeper and begged him to send on board the steam launch for a change of clothes and some necessaries, and to order the skiff to wait by the bank till he should arrive and give some further orders for being ready to proceed to Ping Tu at ten o’clock the next morning. After which Shelford, almost bursting with anxiety, left the inn, and again walked through the town praying for the sight of someone from the mission. The people, though offering no molestations, evinced a thinly veiled hostility, and he knew that if he continued to wander about after dark his life would be in danger, but a direct attempt on his part to enter the mission-house might lead to a siege of the place and the massacre of all the inmates. At last, some fifteen minutes before dark, he met his missionary friend of the day before. Shelford met him calmly and shook hands. He then said in his most matter-of-fact tone: “Don’t show any surprise at what I am going to say; we are now closely watched. Go home at once, put on Chinese clothes, and bring all your people as soon as possible and get to the river, where you’ll find a small white boat. If I’m not there take the boat at once and push off to the launch and make the sailors take you to Ping Tu. You may get through safely, but don’t attempt to bring anything away with you. The next half-hour will, I think, prove rather exciting. Good night!”