"Then, surely as I have spoken, it shall be so. But how wouldst thou know this vile rogue again?"

"Is it possible for a son to forget the slayer of his parent, even if the wound in his face would not betray him?" said Chow, who gazing earnestly in the face of Nicholas, added, "Art thou really a boy or a man of short measure?"

"Truly, like thyself, a boy of long measure and ample fullness, whose mean surname is Nicholas," said the other laughing.

"No, no, n.o.ble Nicholas, not like Chow; for if a boy, thou art like him who became the Emperor Tait-sou, a little great man-boy," said Chow.

CHAPTER III.

ADVENTURES AT SEA.--RESCUE.

Having recovered his strength, Chow took a turn at the oars, and for an hour pulled l.u.s.tily, to get as far from the coast as possible, for fear of being observed by any straggling party of the rebels who might pursue them, when, if they searched Nicholas and discovered the letter, farewell to the sea chief's schemes. This fear, however, soon became absorbed in a greater; night came on, and brave sailor as he was, Nicholas did not fancy being upon that stormy sea in such a fragile boat.

Then Nicholas took the oars, and had not been pulling long, when he perceived the glimmering of a light in the distance. He rested for a moment; the light grew larger and nearer: this was hopeful; it might be the lantern of a trading ship; yet fearful, for it might be a pirate.

The suspense was terrible, and like a gallant fellow he determined to end it as soon as possible; for this purpose he pulled heartily, and was rewarded at length by getting near enough to the stranger to distinguish voices, then a few long pulls, and strong pulls, and he reached the ship, when by the light from her lanterns perceiving some ropes hanging out, he clambered up her side, telling Chow to follow. In another second they both stood upon the deck, but also in the arms of men, who would have stabbed them with their knives but for the presence of mind of our hero, who exclaimed, "Fear not, brothers of the sea, we are not pirates."

The men, however, not being so easily appeased, bound the arms of the boys with ropes and took them into the presence of the captain, much to the disgust of Chow, who said, "Truly it is a maxim that a servant should follow his master, but our career will be one of short measure by this strange frolic, O n.o.ble Nicholas."

"Silence, Chow, let not thy heart leap between thy lips at the first threat of danger," said Nicholas angrily.

"The bravest war tiger would become a mouse with his body packed as closely as a cotton ball," said Chow surlily.

The captain, however, no sooner saw Nicholas, than with a start of surprise he ordered the sailors to leave the cabin, and took up a large knife from the cabin table, when the terrified Chow cried, "Take the worthless life of thy mean slave, O n.o.ble commander, but in the name of thy ancestors spare my n.o.ble master."

Chow's fear became surprise in no small degree when the captain, without noticing his prayer, not only cut the cords from the arms of Nicholas, but made him a respectful bow.

"Thanks, worthy commander," said Nicholas, taking the knife and releasing Chow.

"Truly the heavens have tumbled down a surprise," said Chow, with a caper, adding, "Is the n.o.ble man-boy a good demon, that he can transform enemies into friends with a glance of his eye?"

Without, however, satisfying Chow, Nicholas asked the captain to give the boy a sleeping mat in another cabin, after which he said, "It is well, O Yung, that you chanced to be at sea this night, or my n.o.ble parent would have had to mourn his son." But little more pa.s.sed, for Nicholas was glad to seek a long rest, and possession of the sleeping mat which the captain resigned to him.

The reason of this civility is easily explained--the vessel itself belonged to the sea chief, and its commander was one of his officers in charge on a voyage to Ning-Po, which port they reached the following day. Having landed, the boys took leave of the captain, and sought a lodging at one of the largest inns, where, after resting for a few days, Nicholas began to prepare for his journey inland.

His first care was to furnish Chow with a becoming robe of stout silk, a cap, trousers, and thick-soled leather boots. As soon as the boy had put them on he began to caper about, crying, "My master is generous, and the G.o.ds will reward him for making a poor boy decent enough to pay due reverence to the tombs of his ancestors, for truly he could not worthily sweep the dust from their resting-place in such unbecoming tatters; for although Chow is poor, he is of worthy descent and honorable relations."

"Truly, Chow, thou art now fit to take a degree at the next examination at Pekin, if we ever arrive there," said Nicholas.

"It is not reasonable that the n.o.ble Nicholas should laugh at his mean servant, for at the examination of his Hien he pa.s.sed so creditably through the first two sacred books, that he would have obtained a government promotion but for the villain who destroyed his house. _May his soul pa.s.s into the body of a rat!_" said Chow gloomily.

"Pardon, O disappointed scholar. It was villainous to laugh, for it is a wise saying, 'that the well to do should sympathize with the unfortunate,'" said Nicholas, adding, as he took his cap, "But let us now seek for a pa.s.sage-boat, for it is also wisely said, 'that the loiterer about the business of another is incapable of conducting his own affairs.'"

When they reached the river, they engaged a pa.s.sage to Hang-tcheou, and having waited for a favorable tide, the barge was soon out of the river into a ca.n.a.l, upon which for days they proceeded, at times being pushed along by poles thrust into the water, at others, being drawn along by coolies, or porters, an employment that affords a means of existence to a vast portion of the population of China.

Tche-Kiang, through which they so leisurely traveled, is, perhaps, the most fertile and beautiful of the eighteen provinces of China, and large enough to contain the whole of Scotland and its adjacent islands.

Besides rivers, it is watered by some sixty ca.n.a.ls, which serve not only as an easy method of transit, but so to irrigate the great plains around that they yield crops of rice, pulse, and cotton, twice and sometimes thrice a year. It was pleasant to watch these ca.n.a.ls pouring forth their sparkling limpid streams to lave the feet of the neighboring hills and mountains, which for many miles presented an aspect of singular beauty; some, like carved and nature painted pyramids, being wrought into terraces, which shot one out of the other, teeming with the yellow grain, cotton, or tea-trees, while others were thickly sprinkled with shady trees, which waved over sloping cemeteries of quaintly shaped tombs and temples. It was a charming picture--nature dressed to the verge of foppery--more, it was a glorious land, and smiling as if in pride at its power of blessing the human race--and more again, that its owners knew its worth and industriously stretched its blessings to the utmost.

Then the boat came to a dike, or sluice, and they were about to enter another ca.n.a.l at least fifteen feet beneath their level. To pa.s.s this, the barge was hoisted by Coolies up an inclined plain of freestone by means of ropes upon capstans and sheer strength of muscle, then gently let down a slope upon the other side into the water, a mode adopted to the present day to move even the largest vessels from ca.n.a.l to ca.n.a.l.

Thus pleasantly the young travelers were wafted through the province, now through vast plains of rice, then by the sides of great hills cl.u.s.tering with the tea-plant, on again through vast orchards of mulberry-trees and the useful and curious tallow-plant; then again through plantations of bamboo, that inseparable companion of the Chinaman from the cradle to the grave--for it receives the infant, corrects the boy, is the means of living for the man, and entwines the corpse. Then again they pa.s.sed through towns and cities, swarming with busy workers at the silk-loom and multifarious handicrafts, and toiling children, women, and men in the fields, till they pa.s.sed another dike, and then they were upon the beautiful lake Tsao-hou, about the naming of which the following pretty story is told:--

"Many years ago there lived a priest of the Taouist religion, who had obtained a reputation for his skill in magic. At the festival of the feast of dragon boats, the priest went to sport in the river in honor of his G.o.ds, but by some mischance he was drowned, and his body no where to be found. His dutiful daughter, Tsao-hou, a girl fourteen years of age, felt her father's loss so deeply that she wandered along the banks of the river for seventeen days and nights, weeping and wailing over her loss. At last she threw a large melon into the river, putting up the prayer, 'May this melon sink wherever the body of my father lieth.' With anxious eyes she watched the gourd as it floated on the surface of the stream, until it stopped at a certain spot where it sank. The poor damsel, frantic with grief, rushed to the place and plunged after it.

She too was drowned, but five days afterward her lifeless trunk rose to the surface with her father's body in her embrace. Both were buried on the river bank, and in commemoration of that incident the name of the girl was given to the lake and a magnificent temple erected to her name."

On the sixth day they came to Chao-Hing, the Venice of China, where the ca.n.a.ls are so numerous that any portion of the city may be reached by boats. Imagine a city with, in place of streets, one large network of water-roads, intersected with bridges, so light and fanciful that one could imagine them to have been blown together by the breath of fairies, and you will have some notion of Chao-Hing.

This city is celebrated alike for its silk-worms and book-worms. So great is the reputation of the scholars of Chao-Hing that they are sought for by the viceroys of provinces to fill government offices. Near to this city and not far from the mountain of a.s.ses (so called from its being shaped in the form of that animal) is the sepulchre of the great Emperor Yu, the model sovereign of China.

This prince obtained the throne by having saved the empire from the deluge of water which in his time covered the lands; indeed, he must have been no common engineer, for in thirteen years, by unwearied labor, he leveled high mountains, embanked and confined great rivers within their channels, drained lakes and marshes, enclosed rapid torrents with banks, and divided rivers into ca.n.a.ls, which not only gained a great extent of country, but rendered the whole more fertile. It was the great genius and wonderful energy of Yu that caused the reigning Emperor to choose him for his successor in preference to either of the four princes, his sons.

Among other remarkable things told of this Emperor, it is said that he first taught the people to cultivate, sow, and manure lands, and divided his dominions into nine provinces, causing as many great brazen vessels to be made, on each of which a map of a province was engraved. In succeeding times these vessels became very precious, for it was believed that the safety of the state depended on their security, and that whoever obtained them would also obtain the crown.

A qualification rare amongst kings was possessed by this useful prince.

He hated flatterers, and the only way to gain his favor was to tell him of his faults. Moreover, Yu thought no employment so becoming a sovereign as doing justice to the people; thus he gave access to his subjects at all hours, and that no obstacle might be thrown in their way, he had affixed to his palace gates a bell, a drum, and three tables, one of iron, one of stone, and another of lead, upon either of which people who wanted an audience were to strike.

The bell was to distinguish civil affairs, the drum for matters relating to law or religion, the leaden table for the ministers, the tablet of stone to denote a complaint of wrong done by some magistrate, and lastly the iron tablet was to denote any very serious trouble. So rigorously did Yu adhere to this rule, that it is said that he arose from table twice in one day, and another day came three times out of his bath at the sound of the bell.

Another story is, that when wine, which was first invented in his reign, was shown to him, he expressed great regret, "for," said he, "this liquor will cause the greatest trouble to the empire." But wise and powerful as he was, Yu could not conquer sensuality; for in China, as in most other countries, the love for strong liquors is potent.

CHAPTER IV.

THE INNKEEPER.--ALARMING NEWS.

For six more days the boys sailed along this ca.n.a.l till they came to Hang-tcheou-fou, the terrestrial paradise of China, of which, in conjunction with another great city, the people have a saying, "Heaven is above, but Hang-tcheou and Foo-tcheou are below." As a combination of work and pleasure, a great manufacturing city, and a fashionable and healthful watering-place, this spot has not its equal in the world; for as the province of Tche-Kiang is the most celebrated in the empire for its growth of mulberry-trees and the finest silk-worms, so is its capital, Hang-tcheou, celebrated for its looms and the quality and quant.i.ty of those rare silks, satins, and taffetas, which no less gladdened the eyes of the moderns than they surprised and delighted the wealthy Romans, who, not knowing from whence they came, believed them to be the handiwork of "furthest Ind."

Not alone the Manchester, but the Bath or Cheltenham of China, this city is also famous for its scholars, and as being the residence of the fashionables, if such a term may be used to a people who are proverbial for having kept in manners, customs, laws, religion, and dress, and even ideas, with little exception, to the pattern men and women, fashioned and shaped by their early Emperors, Yaou and Yu, some four thousand years ago; for the latter perhaps Hang-tcheou is chiefly indebted to its vicinage to the celebrated lake See-ho. The waters are so clear that the smallest pebbles may be seen shining like crystals from the bottom. In the middle are two islands adorned with temples and houses, wherein water parties, after taking their pleasure upon the lake, resort for rest and refreshment. Upon piles driven into the bed of the lake are large stone walks or pathways for pedestrians, which stretch from the banks to the islands, with openings for boats, across which are thrown fancifully wrought bridges. The banks are studded with temples, mansions, monasteries, for the bonzes or priests of Buddah, as also a small but beautiful palace for the use of the Emperor, when he makes a tour through his southern provinces.

Near to this lake, and reposing in a valley beneath the foot of a mountain, upon the summit of which, as if in guard over the dead for the past forty centuries, the huge Lui-fung-ta, or tower of thundering winds, is the great cemetery, or vale of tombs, a city in size, which is kept reverentially clean, and strewn at stated periods with fresh flowers, over which forests of willows weep for the departed.

One of the chief beauties of this famous lake I had almost forgotten to mention. Its sides, where the water is shallow, are covered with the cl.u.s.tering and rare flowers, lien-hoa, a plant so choice that it is fostered in the innermost recesses of the houses of the great and wealthy. Not unlike our own tulips, the Lien-hoa has a little ball supported by a small filament similar to that formed in lilies; its color varies, being at times violet, white, or a mixture of red and white; it emits a fragrant odor; the fruit is as big as a small nut, and the kernel is white and of good taste. The physicians esteem it, and prescribe it for weak patients. The leaves are long, and swim upon the water, communicating with the root by long strings. The dense population, which has rendered it necessary to turn every atom to account, has led the busy-bee genius of the people to make every particle of this plant useful. The before-mentioned strings are used by the gardeners to wrap round their goods, and the white and pulpy root is eaten in summer for its cooling properties.

Although mid-day when they arrived at this city, you will not wonder that it was nearly dark by the time they reached the gates, when I tell you that the river was one vast floating town of vessels, the greater part of which were arranged into streets, crowded with pa.s.sing mandarin junks laden with pleasure parties, and decorated with j.a.pan, gilding, silk streamers, and that emblem of rank, the umbrella; government junks, some of war, and others freighted with rice, silks, and other matters, which had been given by the different townspeople as taxes in lieu of money; then numerous junks laden with salt and other commodities, to say nothing of the many thousands of San-pans or egg-house boats, in which a vast portion of the poorer section of the Chinese reside, never being permitted to come ash.o.r.e without especial permission from the governor; then again, the floating islands of trees, with their huts formed of poles and matting of bamboo. Indeed just such a scene is a picture of the every-day life presented on the ca.n.a.ls and rivers of this country; but particularly in the southern provinces, which so swarm with human beings, that thousands are compelled from want of room on land to take refuge on the water, where they not only live, but carry on their various avocations.

Notwithstanding the haste of the boys to enter the city, as they pa.s.sed through the gates the great bell above them began to sound the first of the five watches or divisions into which the night is divided, and the crowds who thronged the narrow streets began to scamper in every direction to their homes, for the law of China very wisely holds "that the daylight is for labor and the night for repose." Greatly fatigued, the young travelers sought the first inn where they regaled themselves with a plentiful meal, foolishly forgetting the pa.s.sing time: indeed, before they had finished, they heard the sound of the second watch, when the landlord made his appearance and begged of his honorable guests to take their departure, much to the surprise of Nicholas, who had resolved to go no further that night. "Surely," said he, "the perfection of innkeepers would not turn away travelers who are willing to pay for their entertainment and lodging."

"From what distant province can the honorable youth have journeyed, that he knows not that the inns are full of the servants and officers of the ill.u.s.trious Ching-Ti, who has this day arrived, to fill with his form of full measure the governor's sedan, and judgment seat?" said the innkeeper.

"Truly the worthy innkeeper will pardon his younger brother for observing that the name of the Mandarin of Hang-tcheou is Yang-ti, or the eyeb.a.l.l.s of his humble guest have become twisted, for Yang-ti is the name upon this chop," replied Chow, producing a kind of pa.s.sport which had been given to him at the custom-house before entering the city.

"Where have been the ears of my honorable guest that he has not heard that the n.o.ble Yang has completed the measure of his joys and sorrows in this world?"