The Girl from Hong-Kong: A Story of Adventure Under Five Suns — page 305: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE GIRL FROM HONG-KONG. 299 this sort—the surgeon’s knife is often as great a neces- Sity as the doctor’s physic. At another time or under different conditions they might have considered it a delightful journey, since the scenery is grand, and at every turn new pictures present themselves for examination. In spite of the anxiety that hangs over them like a fog- bank, our travelers manage to extract a little pleasure from what they observe. Doris seems to dread some impending stroke. She fears Senor Enrique. In her mind this man is an arch plotter. Surely he would never have taken the féarful journey from Hong-Kong, following upon the heels of Warren Evans, the mine owner, tinless with a tremendous object in view. That object is one they may only conjecture, but it undoubtedly concerns the mastery of the Chihuahua mines, and possibly the life of the owner. In her mind the dark-faced Mexican is a modern Car- dinal Richelieu, and his brain teeming with schemes for personal agerandizement. : At last the train rolls into the City of Mexico. Vehicles carry them to the one leading hotel, the Iturbe, run upon a plan such as few American hostelries have at- tempted, thank Heaven. The awnings, the tiled floors, the great court where peddlers and hucksters come to dispose of their wares to ‘the hotel people—these and a thousand similar points of interest arouse the curiosity of all sojourners in this strange land of the Montezumas. It is already late in the day. Somewhat exhausted after the heat and dust of their long ride over mountain and plateau, and through tropt- cal valleys, the travelers are glad to enjoy the luxury of a bath and then think of supper. It requires considerable diplomacy on Terry’s part to secure a small private parlor for their meals, separate from the general dining-room or restaurant. As they sit there, it 1s possible to look out on the plaza from one window, while from the opposite side come the clattering of dishes and voices of guests. _ comicbooks.com