'I have; and they may have seen me, though Mirlees will tell you that I did my best to avoid this by sheering off on another tack. It is possible, Poyning, that you do not yet fully realise the determination of that company. They are not to be put off by temporary setbacks. After your brush with two of their number on the permanent way in Shanghai it was only a matter of time for them to track us to Nanking, and from Nanking here. Moreover, it now becomes more than a question of stealing my papers and my secret. Every victory we have gained will only aggravate their hostility. The agents detailed to destroy us will fail to do so at peril of their own lives from the organisation behind them, and they will leave no chance neglected. They will ransack this neighbourhood for us; their sentry may be watching our yard with a glass at this moment--in which case he will not see much. But if we move out in daylight, our boat is bound to be observed, and will certainly be followed. If, on the other hand, we succeed in getting away from here unobserved, we are now coming to parts of the river where it will be more and more difficult for them to follow, or to get warnings on ahead of us by telegraph. I am convinced that the delay will be worth while in the long run.' We accordingly sat down to wait, not even venturing outside our room, while Ah Sing kept to his spying post in the yard. Never have I known a day drag so; it would be hard to say which of us was most relieved when night fell, and we could throw down the canvas screen from the launch and heave her down into the water. We slunk darkly away up stream. If there were watchers, we seemed to have eluded them. By nine o'clock the long lights of Hankow were fading in our wake, and by half-past we had come to a reach strangely deserted and silent after the bustle of the great hub of Chinese riverine traffic. We drove ahead at full speed, Philipson steering. Suddenly he pricked up his ears. 'What's that?' he cried. We all sat listening. I heard nothing, but about a minute later there came, carried far across the still water, a distinct gunshot, and another after about the same interval. 'Odd!' muttered Philipson. 'If we were at sea you might say somebody was trying to make distress signals.' Poyning had stood up, and was peering over the edge of the wash-streaks forward. 'There's a curious light in the river straight ahead,' he cried. 'Great Scott, it's a boat on fire!' We all looked now, and there, sure enough, was a big sailing junk drifting down upon us, broadside on and plainly out of control. Dense smoke bellied from her midships, and by the tongues of flame that licked up through it we caught momentary flashlight glimpses of her crew crowding into stem and stern in a panic to get away from the heat. They kept up the minute guns till we were within hail, then raised a chorus of piteous yells.