Hong-Kong_. _Where and why the Britisher fails_. _Comparison with
Germans_. _Three western provinces and pack-horse traffic_. _Advantages
of new railway_. _Yangtze likely to be abandoned_. _East India Company.
French and British interests_. _Hint to Hong-Kong Chamber of Commerce._


Wild shrieking, frantic yelling, exhausted groaning, confusion and
clamor,--one long, deafening din. A bewildering, maddening mob of
reckless, terrified human beings rush hither and thither, unseeingly and
distractedly. Will she go? Yes! No! Yes! Then comes the screeching, the
scrunching, the straining, and then--a final snap! Back we go, sheering
helplessly, swayed to and fro most dangerously by the foaming waters,
and almost, but not quite, turn turtle. The red boat follows us
anxiously, and watches our timid little craft bump against the
rock-strewn coast. But we are safe, and raise unconsciously a cry of
gratitude to the deity of the river.

We were at the Yeh T'an, or the Wild Rapid, some distance on from the
Ichang Gorge, were almost over the growling monster, when the tow-line,
straining to its utmost limit, snapped suddenly with little warning, and
we drifted in a moment or two away down to last night's anchorage, far
below, where we were obliged to bring up the last of the long tier of
boats of which we were this morning the first.

And now we are ready again to take our turn.

Our gear is all taken ashore. Seated on a stone on shore, watching
operations, is The Other Man. The sun vainly tries to get through, and
the intense cold is almost unendurable. No hitch is to occur this time.
The toughest and stoutest bamboo hawsers are dexterously brought out,