Such was the story with which Burroughs primed Chin Tai and Lo San. He warned them that difficulties might arise; he could not foresee events at Meichow; but they must employ all their wits to support the fiction, and above all things they were to remember that he was Lieutenant Eitel Reinhardt of the German gunboat _Kaiser Wilhelm_, which, as Burroughs was aware, was then in Chinese waters. "And there’s one thing more," he said sternly in conclusion. "If you two boys squabble, I shall first knock your heads together, and then put you ashore and leave you. Mr. Errington’s life may depend on us; when we know that he is safe you can black each other’s eyes if you like, so long as you don’t make a row." The Chinamen both protested that they loved each other like brothers, scowling all the time. Having purchased the silence of the inn-keeper, Burroughs borrowed a sampan from him; and as soon as darkness fell over the river, the two servants towed the hydroplane down the creek and for some distance up stream. Reinhardt’s launch still lay off the town: the German was apparently spending the night on board. Burroughs guessed that he would shrink from facing his friends in Sui-Fu and the ordeal of their interrogations. But of course the story of the moustache would be all over the district in a day or two, and Burroughs was somewhat anxious lest it should penetrate to Meichow, and give rise to suspicion. The hydroplane was thus towed up until the port had been left some distance behind. Then, when there was no danger of the throb of the engine being heard and provoking awkward inquiries, the sampan was hoisted on board, the engine was started, and the light craft skimmed up the river at the rate of twenty-five knots against the current. CHAPTER XIII RECONCILIATION It was midnight when the hydroplane came in sight of Chia-ling Fu. The river was thronged with junks and other vessels moored for the night, and as many of these no doubt had their crews sleeping on board, Burroughs thought it desirable again to tow the hydroplane. It was necessary that no alarm should be given which might have the effect of causing uneasiness at Meichow. He wished that Su Fing had selected a smaller and less busy place than Meichow for his head-quarters; the larger the population, the greater the risk that the hydroplane would be recognized; for it was quite on the cards that some of the river boatmen had seen it skimming or flying on the lower reaches of the Yang-tse. But it was probably known that the vessel had once been stolen from its rightful owner at Sui-Fu, in which case any suspicious person might perhaps be persuaded that the theft had been repeated, with more success.