one? Yet for my daughter's sake, and because you were kind to me, I remembered you for good when I remembered him for evil." "Well, so far as I am concerned, Fu-chow, I am obliged to you, and I hope to show it. And as for Mr. Pennicuick, since you say that you are quits with him, there is no need for further bitterness on either side. From henceforth let us help one another. What is the sum in which you are indebted to this man for fees?" "Two taels of silver," interposed the gaoler, laconically. Then seeing Conway putting his hand into his pocket, he added hastily, "and half a tael for the extra accommodation." offended by Pennicuick, but it was plain that it had been outraged infinitely more by his treatment at the hand of his fellow-countryman. "Look you, because I am poor," he continued, wetting his dry lips with his tongue, in a manner very suggestive of a serpent's flicker, "they have dared to treat me in this manner. They do not understand that, though my father has been discontented with my conduct, he has not disowned me. They do not believe a man who wears the three-eyed feather can have a son who is poor." "It is no longer necessary for him to be poor, if he will only be obliging," observed Conway, with significance. "I know one who will give five "Oh, for the bed! I see. Well, here's the thousand taels of silver for an act of good service, money; so unloose him." A few strokes of the huge key knocked out the wedges that confined Fu-chow to his pillowless couch; but though free, it was by no means an easy matter for him to rise. Even that hour or so of excessive constraint had stiffened every joint, and planted an ache in every bone. Yet, but for Conway's interference, he would have been doomed to lie upon that bare board, already become a rack of agony, for days and nights. "Perhaps, my friend, as I wish to have some private talk with Fu-chow," observed Conway to the gaoler, "you will leave us alone together." "It is not usual to grant such an indulgence," answered Sheer Singh, with a doubtful air; but the next moment he had left the cell, with a similar swelling in his left cheek to that which had interfered with the lines of beauty in his right. Conway had learnt by this time the one efficacious treatment for all Chinese scruples. "Well, Fu-chow, you feel better now?" 66 Yes, I feel better; but yonder fellow," pointing to the door which had just closed upon the gaoler, "will presently feel much worse. All the time I was lying there, I have been thinking of what will fit him best; and it shall be the shirt." "The shirt!" exclaimed Conway, wondering that the man should think of clothing his enemy, though indeed he stood much in need of garments. "Yes, the wire shirt; it fits quite closely, you see you pull it, and the skin comes through, and then a razor is run over the outside. That shall be Sheer Singh's suit, when my father, the mandarin, comes to hear of what has been done to his son." The expression of Fu-chow's face was absolutely fiendish in its fury; his words, too, were all the more malignant from the tardy and unctuous tone in which they were delivered. Above all, he had an air of insulted nobility beneath which Conway hardly recognised the prompt attendant, who had served him on board the boat, and showed no sign of pride save in his fancied proficiency in the English tongue. His sense of dignity had been and yet not think he has paid too much for it." "Five thousand taels!" repeated Fu-chow, slowly. "That tastes very nice." "Yes, and you shall have it in your own mouth, Fu-chow, like that scoundrel yonder, if you will accomplish what I am about to ask of you." "I will do anything for you that lies in my power," answered Fu-chow, simply, "and that chop-chop, even without the five thousand taels." A childish smile had replaced the scowl upon his pasty face, and Conway felt that he could believe him. 66 Well, my friend's interests are my interests just now, Fu-chow, and in advancing them you will be obliging me." Fu-chow shook his head; the sentiment was too subtle for him; and as for its practical application, that was altogether outside his experience. Conway was compelled to put the case in a more material form. "If I were in my friend's position, you would do your best for me, would you not? Well; do it for him instead of me, and while he pays you with money, I will pay you with thanks from my very heart." Conway laid his hands upon that organ. If Pennicuick had been by, he would have said, "There is nothing like pantomime for your savages ;" and, indeed, gesture helped out the halting words. "Good master," said the Chinaman, but without a touch of softness, "all this care of yours is labour in vain. The decree for 'Ling-chih' will come to-morrow or next day, as sure as the sun. Not I, nor my father (though he wears the three-eyed feather), nor Twang-hi, nor the lord of the province, no, nor the Emperor, the Son of Heaven himself, could save this man, since he has committed sacrilege. Though, indeed," he added, dropping his voice, "money can do something." bet it mentioned five thousand taels, that would be your rewal alone for bringing this matter to a satisistory issue. There would be more money forththe coming for other services." He could not the molari Twing-hi had expres to the same effect, and almost in the Sane words. As for the mitication hinted at, the victim would have a better resource in the bottle of land am than in the humanity of the executioner. My friend is as brave a man as ever drew breath, Fr-how," said he gravely, "though he does not chance to wear a sword. But life is dearer to us Englishmen, than it is held in China. I It is an offer that makes one's mouth water," Said Fu-chow, with a tender sigh. "But, unhappily, it can benefit nobody." "Do you mean to say that no substitute could be found!" "Not at all; I could get you fifty for a few taels a head, without looking beyond these walls. But then they would be all Chinese. The execution must take place in public. Do you suppose that any fellow-countryman of mine could be made to look like an Englishman! Even if you Aloft the purple pennons wave, As, parting gay from Crinan's shore, From Morven's wars the seamen brave Their gallant chieftain homeward bore. In youth's gay bloom, the brave Macphail Still blamed the lingering barque's delay: For her he chid the flagging sail, The lovely maid of Colonsay. "And raise," he cried, "the song of love "When on this ring of ruby red Shall die,' she said, 'the crimson hue, Know that thy favourite fair is dead, Or proves to thee and love untrue.'' Now, lightly poised, the rising oar Disperses wide the foamy spray, And echoing far o'er Crinan's shore, Resounds the song of Colonsay. "Softly blow, thou western breeze, Softly rustle through the sail ! Soothe to rest the furrowy seas, Before my love, sweet western gale! "Where the wave is tinged with red, And the russet sea-leaves grow, Mariners with prudent dread Shun the shelving reefs below. "As you pass through Jura's sound, Bend your course by Scarba's shore; Shun, oh, shun, the gulf profound, Where Corrievreckin's surges roar! "Softly blow, thou western breeze, Softly rustle through the sail! Soothe to rest the furrowed seas, Before my love, sweet western gale!" Thus, all to soothe the chieftain's woe, Far from the maid he loved so dear, The song arose so soft and slow, He seemed her parting sigh to hear. The lonely deck he paces o'er, Impatient for the rising day, And still from Crinan's moonlit shore, He turns his eyes to Colonsay. The moonbeams crisp the curling surge, That streaks with foam the ocean green ;While forward still the rowers urge Their course, a female form was seen. That sea-maid's form of pearly light, Was whiter than the downy spray, And round her bosom, heaving bright, Her glossy yellow ringlets play. |