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a missionary, had gone off without his trunk. So it went into our boat. We cast off, the Ningshao weighed anchor, and we parted company. The old boat looked rather nice over the dark river, but we had no regret at the parting. Once on shore we hastily hired two carriages and three rickshas and got our stuff and us aboard. We thanked what little luck we knew for having bargained in adavance, for the other foreigners bade fair to spend the night on the wharf arguing about prices. 

Our first trip was to the Ningshao office to leave our trunks until morning, for we could not see carrying them up to the house and back. The men in charge were quite nasty about it, and though it was the lateness of their boat that made the difficulty they cared not a bit. As a matter of fact they were sleepy, and that may account for a lot. Finally they gave permission with the declaration that the trunks would be there in the morning, but that they would not be responsible for the contents, which might entirely disappear during the night. We thanked them, paid the two coolies an extra dollar, for they had been exceedingly good once we made our agreement, and mounted our carriage for home. 

For an hour we drove through the dark streets of Nanking, stopping once to make sure that the train would go in the morning. Once arrived at the house we got the caretaker up to let us in, but found that Chensie, on whom we had counted to help us with the stuff next morning, was not on the place. Having the house open we proceeded to make ourselves at home. Dorothy dug out a can of cherries for refreshment, the girls went to bed, and I fell to with our packing, trying to get the remainder of the Nanking stuff and wedding presents into the compass of our few bags. We got it done, prepared a telegram to be sent to Margaret Ruby, and had everything ready by three-thrity when the electric lights went off. 

With a lighted candle near us Dorothy and I lay down, not daring to go to sleep for the scant hour that was left us. 

At four-thirty we were up again and dressing, and before five we were started for the river. This time we had three carriages, for we had collected our own trunk and an extra one of Louise's, not to