Everything happened so fast that Patrick lost all sense of whether he was upside-down or rightside-up.  He remembers falling, twisting and turning, bumping and banging, and then finally seeing the bright light of sunshine up ahead.  To add to this welcome sight were the hands reaching down to him from the entrance of the hole.  As he grabbed onto them and was pulled up, he shut his eyes to protect them from the sudden exposure to the brightness.

            Oh, how good it felt to be lying on solid ground again!  After coughing to clear his lungs from the dust and brushing the loose soil from his eyes, he opened them to a sight that quickly took his relief away.

            The two boys standing over him were NOT his friends, Samuel and Joshua!  Blinking again in disbelief, he now could clearly see that these boys were… Chinese!

            A little dazed, Patrick slowly stood up and backed away.  “Where… where am I? And, who are you?”

            A little perplexed themselves, the two Chinese boys just stared back.  Finally, one of the boys broke the silence, “Did you hit your head when you fell into the mine shaft?  You are in China, remember?  I am Manchu and this is my friend, Shing,” he said, pointing over to the other boy, who nodded.

            Remembering his manners, Patrick extended his hand again and said, “My name’s Patrick.  Thanks for coming to my rescue!” 

            After shaking hands with both boys, Patrick began shaking his head, as if to waken from a dream, but quickly stopped since it made his head hurt.  He put his hand to his head and found quite a goose-egg of a bump.  “China, huh!?!  This is all very strange!  And… and what do you mean about falling into a mine shaft?”

            “We were running from the dragon and heard a noise coming from the shaft.  Manchu and I stopped to check, thinking that one of the others had fallen.  Are you hurt?” asked Shing.

            Patrick quickly looked himself over and shook his head, “No… only my head aches.  Other than that, I guess I’m mainly just a little shook up, dirty… and totally confused.  But, I know that I never fell into a mine shaft.  I was just digging in the…”

            “Hush!” interrupted Manchu, quickly looking around.  “We need to keep moving… and stay quiet.  Now, let’s go!”  He grabbed Patrick’s hand and all three boys ran down a narrow path and then turned to go into a nearby thicket of trees.

            Once the two Chinese boys felt that they had reached a safe destination, they all stopped to catch their breath.  Looking around, Patrick could see that there were others gathering there also, mainly women and children.  He whispered, “What’s going on?  You said you’re running from a dragon?  What dragon?  Aren’t the dragons of China just a myth?” 

            Looking at him and rolling his eyes, Shing said, “You must have really hit your head hard.”  Continuing on, he explained, “Yes, there are dragons… well, at least one of them is still around.  It’s not as brightly colored as you might see in ancient paintings, but it’s just as fierce-looking.  He is very big!  Smoke comes out of his nostrils and flames shoot out of his mouth.  He is also covered with thousands of scales sealed tightly together to make a strong shield.”

            “Whoa!  He sounds pretty scary!” exclaimed Patrick.

            “Yes,” Shing admitted.  “The men of our village have tried to kill it with their swords and spears, but they have failed.  There is only one weak spot on the dragon and that is right between his eyes.  We have lost many of our men trying to hit just the right spot.  The dragon only gets more angry and ferocious!”

            “That’s too bad,” Patrick said softly, looking around.  “I was wondering where all the men were.”

            “Oh, not all of our men have been killed,” corrected Manchu.  “The rest of them have gone to the temple to pray to the gods.  They are asking that the gods intervene for them and send down fire to destroy the dragon.”

            Patrick thought about this for a little while and then asked quietly, “What happens if your gods aren’t able to get rid of the dragon?”

            “Then our whole village will be destroyed and…” Manchu hesitated before continuing on, “our enemies will get possession of the mine.”

            “Oh, I think I see,” Patrick said as he began to piece together their situation.  “Your enemy has sent the dragon to conquer your people.  But, what mine are they after… and why is it so important?”

            “You ask too many questions!”  Manchu said in exasperation.  Turning to Shing, he suggested, “Let’s go show him.  Maybe it will all come back to him if he sees it for himself.”

            Shing nodded and all three boys ducked back out of the protective overhang of branches to the small path out in the clearing.  Seeing that there was no sign of the dragon, the Chinese boys cautiously continued on their way.  Patrick wasn’t sure if this was a good idea, but he felt that he could trust his new-found friends, so he followed on.  Part of him was a little afraid, but, yet, part of him was a little excited about the prospect of this new adventure.  Perhaps he’d even get to see the dragon!

            The boys followed the trail for about a mile when they came to a big wall.  No, not a “big” wall, but…

            “The Great Wall of China!” Patrick gasped in shock.  “I’ve seen pictures of it and read stories about it, but, WOW!  This is great to be able to see it in person!  It’s so… so… HUGE!!!”

            Both Chinese boys laughed at his response.

            “You know,” Shing said after awhile, “I’m starting to think that you really aren’t from around here.  Here, follow Manchu and me and we’ll show you something that you’ve never seen before in any of your books.”

            Walking along the bottom side of the wall, Patrick noticed that the walls were actually becoming shorter.  This part of the Great Wall was only around 2-3 stories high.  Continuing on, they followed the winding walls around to where the lowering sun was shining directly onto the side of it.

            Patrick stopped abruptly and stared.  “It’s… it’s silver!” he exclaimed.

            “Yes,” Shing gleamed, “not many people know about this part of the wall.  When the Great Wall was being built, transporting the large quantity of materials required for construction was difficult, so builders always tried to use local resources.  Rammed earth was used for construction in the plains, while stones from the mountains were used over mountain ranges.  Here, in our country, stones were taken from our silver mines.  Over the years, due to decay, it’s getting harder to see the silver part of the wall.”

            Reaching into his pocket, Shing brought out a couple of rocks with shimmering streams of silver branching through them.  He held them out for Patrick to see.

            “Wow!” exclaimed Patrick.  “Those are beautiful!”

            “These are from the mine.  Go ahead.  Take one,” Shing offered.  “I can always get more.”

            Patrick gingerly picked one of the pieces up, turned it around in the fading sunlight to see it shine and breathed a soft, “Thank you.”  After examining it for a little while longer, he slipped his newly acquired treasure into his pocket with his baseball.

            Meanwhile, Manchu continued where Shing left off, “The Great Wall worked well at defending our country from the northern invaders for many years.  However, when they found out about our silver mines, they decided to change their tactic to gain possession of them.  That’s when they brought in the dragon from the deep.  He is able to scale walls and go places that would have been impossible for the invaders.”

            Just at that moment, all three boys froze as they heard a commotion overhead.  As loose rocks began to fall all around them, Patrick could tell that the dragon had returned without even looking up to see.  He cringed as he heard the heavy breathing above his head and felt the warm air flowing down his back.  He wanted to run, but his legs refused to move.  At any moment, he was expecting to be flambeed.

(to be concluded…)