Meanwhile his father not knowing what had become of his son was in great distress He put out an advertisement in which he offered $200 to anyone who could find his son. The news of the reward offered and the loss of the son was soon in everyone's mouth and led to the rumour that he had been stolen by kidnappers. The connection of the kidnapping with the need of human foundations for the railway bridges was natural to the Chinese mind.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.