He was permitted to try.
Striding fiercely up to the poor Celestial, he said to him in a loud voice, "John, you are fined two pounds." "No dam fear! Only _one_!" Crossing now the river by a well-constructed suspension bridge, we had a fearful climb of 2000 feet up the mountain.

My coolie "Bones" nearly died on the way.

Then there was a rough descent by a jagged path down the rocky side of the mountain-river to the village of Taiping-pu.

It was long after dark when we arrived; and an hour later stalked in the gaunt form of poor "Bones," who, instead of eating a good meal, coiled up on the _kang_ and smoked an opium-pipe that he borrowed from the chairen.

All the next day, and, indeed, for every day till we reached Tengyueh, our journey was one of the most arduous I have ever known.