Ling Fan's Journey to Illinoistown: A Tale of Food, Sabotage, and Unexpected Allies

In this section, Ling Fan and Tan Din journey to Illinoistown to pick up a food shipment. They pack donkey carts with lunch supplies and deliver them to the work site. Ling Fan helps serve tea to the workers under the scorching sun, and they later return to Illinoistown to load up supplies for the camp. While there, Ling Fan's hat is stolen by a young girl, but she manages to retrieve it and encounters James Strobridge, the main foreman. Ling Fan witnesses a commotion involving a gunpowder keg and overhears Strobridge offering a reward for information about sabotage. As Ling Fan and Tan Din prepare to leave, they are confronted by hostile workers who accuse them of being troublemakers. However, the situation is diffused by Jonathan O'Brien and his nephew Thomas. Ling Fan and Tan Din resume their journey back to the work camps.