CHAPTER X.
THE JOURNEY FROM CHAOTONG TO TONGCHUAN.
In Chaotong I engaged three new men to go with me to Tongchuan, a distance of 110 miles, and I rewarded liberally the three excellent fellows who had accompanied me from Suifu.

My new men were all active Chinamen.

The headman Laohwan was most anxious to come with me.
Recognising that he possessed characteristics which his posterity would rejoice to have transmitted to them, he had lately taken to himself a wife and now, a fortnight later, he sought rest.

He would come with me to Burma, the further away the better; he wished to prove the truth of the adage about distance and enchantment.

The two coolies who were to carry the loads were country lads from the district.