"Now let's figure this out," he said. "If the launch is not here, they have either taken it, or some accident or carelessness is responsible. But we can't wait around here and I think the junk is our best chance. The sails are hoisted. In five minutes we can be aboard. What do you say?" "We must get aboard," said the General, but when Mr. Shultz opened the door none of them moved, as though each was reluctant actually to precipitate any action. Finally Mr. Shultz climbed heavily out, and the rest followed him. They stood outside the car, exposed once more to the vast insecurity of the night. Then they started down wide steps cut in the bank. Megan could see the loom of the junk below them and a great white eye staring from the bow. It was farther out from shore than she had at first realized. The General's steps lagged. Half-way down he stopped and said: "They are not loading. No one has moved. There hasn't been a sound. They are soldiers put here to guard the landing. It is no use, Shultz." Megan tried to see his face; there was not enough light to make out his expression, but his voice had been flat, a little breathless. It showed no excitement, even no fear, because he knew suddenly that there was no hope for him. From the moment when firing broke out in the distant city he had been lost. He knew it now. Megan stepped close to him and whispered, "Don't give up like this. Don't." "Oh, it's not so good," said Mr. Shultz. Megan saw him feel his hip pocket. "But we can't turn back now. They are coming to meet us." And he leaned toward Megan. "If they start firing before we get down, you run back and get in the car." Megan watched the dark group moving along the shore toward the foot of the steps. In a moment, if they went on down, they would be in their midst. If they turned and went back they would, she supposed, be fired on. And where would they go? The group of soldiers stopped and stood apparently looking up at them. "Oh, come on," said Mr. Shultz. "They are only Chinese soldiers. I can wangle this." They started down once more. At the base of the steps was a narrow strip of beach. They stood in the light from the lantern, which made a circle around them like the halo around a dim moon. On its edge the fifteen or twenty soldiers hesitated, huddled against one another. One was elbowed by a companion into the circle of light and Megan saw his bare feet and the shine of his cheek-bones, but having been forced forward, he only smiled foolishly and tried to step back. But more were coming, pushing in from the dark and their shifting, uneasy movements were forming a semicircle on the steps, cutting them off from all but the landing. Mr. Shultz looked them over. "Don't let them hear your voice," he said to the General. "Maybe they won't know you under your cap. Keep an eye on Li."