Among the Celestials : vol.1 / Page 78 (Color Image)

0078	Among the Celestials : vol.1

54 AMONG THE CELESTIALS. [CHAP. III.

six months before, and, after all the hardships

and the frequent ennui of travel, the delight of

getting in touch again with one's friends and

inhaling one soft breath of air from our native

land was intense and almost bewildering. It

made us forget all the hard part we had

gone through ; that all seemed a dream now,

and just that touch from outside put enough

new energy into us to have started us con-

tentedly on another fresh journey if need had

been.

Fulford and I met with no incident on our

road to Kirin, though we passed the body of a

man who had on the previous day been mur-

dered by brigands ; and on November 26 we

rejoined Mr. James at Kirin. The great

Sungari was now frozen over hard. The ice

on it was more than a foot thick, and we were

able to trot our carts smoothly across a river

three hundred yards wide and twenty feet

deep.

From Kirin we pushed on rapidly to Mukden.

The cold was now becoming intense. On ac-

count of the heavy traffic on the road, we had

to make early starts in the morning so as to

secure places at the inns in the evening. We

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