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149. Grand Hotel des Wagons-Lits Limited. TEL. ADDRESS: WAGONLITS. CODE 5TH EDITION A.B.C. [[image]] Peking, Septem. 12th/09 Dear Colonel Hecker:- The voyage from Hongkong to Shanghai proved delightful, and in passing up the river to the wharf at the latter named city, I saw a small but good-looking Hamburg-American steamer named the "Straasskraten Kraetkye" which the Capt. of our launch, taken at Woosung, told me was to sail for Tientsin in about one hour, and that there would not be another ship of comfortable kind leave for that port for a week - also that the railway line via Hankow was closed by the loss of a bridge. So, I rushed ashore, visited the Hamburg-American office, secured a cabin, hustled my luggage over to the "Kraetkye" and was soon returning down the river [[strikethrough]] at [[/strikethrough]] and out to sea again. The broiling-steaming heat of Shanghai was suffocating and 183