Viewing page 67 of 187

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

65 

that the office was on the Chinese bund below the hulk. Thither we went and found it just openning. A plesant young man showed us a telegram, with the information that the Ningshao would be down Sunday morning and the slower Feng Pu not until Monday. So back we went to wait for the Ningshao. But we were late to breakfast, for besides our wandering looking for the office, two well-intentioned but stupid ricksha coolies had taken us about half way to Hankow in a vain search for the Kuling Estate office. 

We loafed the morning away, and in the afternoon took a hike out to look at the China shops for which Kiukiang is famous. We saw some very attractive stuff, but saved our money. On the way home we stopped at a tiny shop and bought ginger and citron and peanuts, and had a tea party when we arrived on our porch. 

Sunday, 23 August

Bright and early we got ourselves into a sampan with all our goods this morning, and made our way dow the creek and along the shore to the hulk of the San Peh company. Early as we were the Ningshao was earlier. Still we got on with a minimum of fighting over baggage, and found that several cabins had not been reserved. The boy said we would have to get the captain to assign our cabins, and he wasnot then available; so we picked out two nice ones and dumped out stuff. When the captain came around later we told him we were quite all right. That is, the girls told him, for Dorothy and I went back on shore. I had left my wrist watch hanging to the head of my bed, where I had put it so that I could see it early in the morning. We took ricks and hurried back to the Duff's only to find that [[strikethrough]] xxxxxx [[/strikethrough]] the rooms had been cleaned, the beds made, and the head boy professing total ignorance of the watch, having made the bed himself. I hurried to the room, and there was the watch where I had left it. The boy who made the bed was amazed, for he had missed both the watch itself and the possible tip for its return to its owner. We thanked him and started back for the ship, but not so fast that we could not stop at a porcelain store to get a large plate and two small bowls to match our yellow tea set.