Читать книгу The War Tiger - William Dalton - Страница 11

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Having recovered his strength, Chow took a turn at the oars, and for an hour pulled lustily, 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 noble 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 noble commander, but in the name of thy ancestors spare my noble 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 noble 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 noble parent would have had to mourn his son." But little more passed, 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 gods 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 noble Nicholas should laugh at his mean servant, for at the examination of his Hien he passed 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 pass 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 passage-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 passage to Hang-tcheou, and having waited for a favorable tide, the barge was soon out of the river into a canal, 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 canals, 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 canals 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 canal at least fifteen feet beneath their level. To pass 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 canal to canal.

Thus pleasantly the young travelers were wafted through the province, now through vast plains of rice, then by the sides of great hills clustering 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 passed 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 passed 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 gods, 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 canals 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 Asses (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 canals, 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.