'He took out a thick wad, and handed me an envelope from among them. "Those are the ones," said he. "There is nothing else in the house, for I have searched it. Please tell the _Lao Yeh_ I did everything possible to protect his property, but they had lined the walls with kerosene, and all went up very swiftly. Since then I have watched here for my master. Those villains have also watched. One of them followed you down this road to-night. I recognised him from the night of the house-burning. I heard him tell you he was Mr. Philipson's boy. When you ran, you thought you had left him behind, but you had not. He followed you across the fields, so close that he could have killed you. But I was just behind him." '"Where is the fellow now?" I whispered. 'My ally drew me deeper into the shrubbery, where I kicked against something soft. "He will not follow you any more," he said. "Help me to cover him up, lest the police find him."' At this point Lo Eng sat a little farther forward on the edge of his chair, and broke in, with extreme deference. 'That man struggled very hard, master,' he said sweetly. 'I discovered afterwards that I had strangled him.' Philipson gravely nodded, and Poyning resumed his story. 'Lo Eng showed me a way across to the main traffic routes without touching the New Highgate Road at all, and left me. I caught an inward bound cabriolet to the city, cleared my own debit at the Eastern Seas Hotel, collected my bag from the Marco Polo and settled up there, and eventually reached the station with fifteen minutes to spare. I had been zealously on the watch for followers all the way, and could have pledged my faith that I had none; and yet, as I paced the platform, to my supreme disgust I saw that two natives in the throng at least were taking an abnormal amount of interest in my movements. They had been over against a fruit stall in full view of the wicket I should have to pass, but when they saw me, they edged unmistakably in my direction. I walked up and down twice: they moved _pari passu_. I realised that if I boarded the Nanking train, even if they did not follow me I should have given away the route you had followed--always supposing these men had connected me with you, which seemed tolerably plain. Then a device occurred to me. There was a local train standing in the station. It was due to leave for Wusung at ten-fifty. I regarded this as proof that the gods were on my side. I went to the booking office and bought a ticket for Wusung, intending to board that train, walk straight through it, and gain my own by way of the track, trusting to providence and a villainously illuminated station; but my two rascals were too quick for me. I saw them get into a compartment about four distant from mine. The situation, gentlemen, was growing strained, and I had already decided not to travel at all that night, but to slink back into the city and try again later, when yet another subterfuge came to my mind. I knew