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[[underline]] Chapter XII. [[/underline]] 251.

on their persons and property, were coming in from all parts of the country; and I was told by the officials of the Robert Dollar Steamship Co. that the captain of the [[underline]] President Lincoln [[/underline]] had just sent them a radiogram asking whether he could safely put in at Shanghai.
On June 6th the steamer docked.  I met Miss Furscott, and helped her find quarters at the Palace Hot^[[e]]l for what seemed only too likely to be a long stay; since communication between Shanghai and Peking had become more and more precarious.  The port was practically in a state of siege, and the Foreign Settlement was in danger of having its regular supplies of food from the surrounding country cut off.  
The next ten days and more I devoted to interviews with various officials, both Chinese and foreign, in regard to the feasibility of our traveling to Peking at that time.  All steamers, I found, were booked up for weeks in advance, owing to the demand for accommodation.  If, on the other had, we chose to go by rail, I was told that no assurances could be given for our safety, on account of the ugly temper of the mobs everywhere.  The situation was a perplexing one; but finally we decided to set out by rail for the north and take our chances of what might befall.

[[underline]] Return to Peking. [[/underline]]
We left Shanghai on June 18th, the only foreigners on the train.  Cautioned not to show ourselves at the car-windows or otherwise draw attention to our presence, we reached Nanking without any incident worth recording.  In that city the mob and hordes of soldiers displayed considerable truculence; but on our gaining the northern bank of the Yangtze River the Karlbecks (see page 59) received us with their accustomed hospitality.  At Pukow we found no reservations, although I had wired for them from Shanghai; but a young Englishman, Mr. B. S. Hudson, an entire stranger, very kindly gave up his com-