Among the Celestials : vol.1 / Page 218 (Color Image)

0218	Among the Celestials : vol.1

i8o AMONG THE CELESTIALS. [CHAP. VII.

them what advantage was to be gained by

stopping me. He said I had come direct from

Peking, and had a passport from the Emperor

of China, which I could show them ; and that,

having that passport, my whereabouts was

known, so that if anything happened to me

they would have Chinese soldiers swarming

over their country, and every sort of harm

done them. He then went on to say that as

far as he was concerned it was a matter of

indifference whether they let me through or

not ; but, looking at the question from an out-

side point of view, it certainly seemed to him

wiser on their part to let me go quietly on to

the next place, and so end the matter. If they

acted thus, nothing more would be heard of

me ; whereas, if they did anything to me,

a good deal more might come of it. The up-

shot of the affair was that they allowed them-

selves to be persuaded, and it was agreed that

I should be permitted to proceed on my way.

Rahmat-ula-Khan had successfully extracted

me from what might have been a very awk-

ward situation.

He was one of the best men for this kind of

work I could have found, for he was always

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