"Surely the n.o.ble governor cannot have pa.s.sed so suddenly to the yellow stream or the shadow kingdom of Yen-Vang," said Chow.
"There can be no doubt that it is a sad history, for greatly was the good Yang loved, not only in this his last province, but in all those over which he had ruled, never having retired from a government without receiving the boots of honor," replied the innkeeper.
It may be as well to explain to you, that when the governor of a city removes to another province, the people exhibit their approbation of his wisdom and justice by paying him great honor. When he commences his journey he finds, for a considerable distance along the road, tables covered with silk placed at certain intervals, upon some of which are laid burnt perfumes, candlesticks, waxlights, meats, pulse, and fruits; and upon others, wine, and tea, ready for use. As soon as the popular mandarin appears, the people fall upon their knees, bow their heads and weep, offer him the things upon the tables, and present him with a pair of new boots; they then pull off his old ones, and preserve them as relics in a small cage, which they hang over the gates of the city through which he pa.s.sed.
"Will the worthy innkeeper relate the ill-doings that could have brought this good magistrate to misfortune?" said Nicholas, guessing at the innkeeper"s meaning.
"Truly it was no less than a fondness for the religion of the Fan-Kwi."
"Surely that could be no crime under our good Emperor, who has befriended the Christians, even to permitting the members of his family to become followers of the Lord of Heaven," said Nicholas.
"It is true that the information may be incorrect, but such has fallen into thy servant"s ears; moreover it is said that the great Yang"s conduct has offended the bonzes at Pekin, who are all-powerful in the palace of the Son of Heaven, whom they persuaded to send the Christian-exterminating Lord Ching-Ti, with an order signed by the vermilion pencil, to put Yang to death."
"Has the vile deed been performed?" said Nicholas hastily.
"Hush!" said the host in a low tone. "Surely such language will bring a heavy punishment upon thy head."
"Has the n.o.ble mandarin suffered, O worthy man?" said Nicholas, whose rising indignation outweighed his prudence.
"It has been wisely said, that it is of little use to repine at what can"t be recalled," replied the innkeeper, adding, "The soul of the great Yang is now in search of a better habitation, but he left this world with dignity, for the Son of Heaven, _may he continue the circle of succession_, remembering his servant"s good deeds, mercifully permitted him to be his own executioner, and, moreover, gave him the choice either of the silken cord, the gold leaf, or his own state necklace."
"Truly if the great lords esteem these things as favors, thanks be to Tien that thy servant is but a small weasel of a personage," said Chow, making some very remarkable grimaces.
"When the n.o.ble Yang received the message, he called for the incense table, burned perfume in honor of his royal master, chose the silken cord, and having held it high above his head in token of his willingness to obey the royal will, immediately strangled himself," said the innkeeper, without noticing Chow"s interruption.
That the boys did not shudder at this recital, may surprise you who are not perhaps aware that this is a common method of showing the royal grat.i.tude for past services in the middle kingdom. Not only are these three methods used as punishments, but as a means of suicide, which in China, as in most unchristianized countries, is esteemed a meritorious means of slipping through a difficulty. The gold leaf being taken in the form of a pill, is washed down with water, which is supposed so to expand the leaf and extend the stomach that life soon becomes extinct.
The death by the necklace is more uncommon. There is a bird of the crane kind, on the crown of whose head is a scarlet tuft of down or velvet skin, to which the Chinese believe the poison of the serpents which it eats determines. This crest is frequently formed into a bead which is concealed in the ornamental necklaces worn by the high officers of the empire, for the express purpose of surmounting worldly difficulties, for let this venom but touch the lip, and death instantaneously ensues.
There is a legend that the life of this bird extends to one thousand years, that it is in its prime at sixty, when it can sing regularly and beautifully every hour of the day, but that it cannot mount trees till it reaches its thousandth year.
When the innkeeper had finished, the clanging of the watchman"s bamboo rattle in the streets reminded Nicholas of the lateness of the hour, and he said, "But, even now, the worthy innkeeper has not informed his younger brothers where they may find a lodging for the night.
"Thy servant, n.o.ble youth, must have been born in an unfortunate hour, that he cannot offer the advantages of his inn, but the truth has been spoken, none but the servants and officers of the great Ching-Ti can rest here to-night."
"Surely taels of silver are not so plentiful in this city that all will refuse," said Chow.
"Truly for less than an ounce of silver two travelers might find a lodging in the house of the bonzes."
"The priests of Fo are rogues," said Nicholas, giving utterance to an opinion that has been popular in China from all time.
"The n.o.ble youth possesses a tongue that will place him in the cangue, or procure him a branded cheek by this hour to-morrow, if he rules it no better," said the innkeeper; but before the boy could reply, the man"s wife ran into the room, crying and beating her breast, and implored of her husband to follow her to the bedside of their dying daughter.
Shocked that they had been the means of keeping the man from so holy a duty. Nicholas apologized, and was about leaving the house, when with an hysterical laugh, the man said, "See, O honorable youths, this woman has but little faith in the power of the holy bonzes, who have been offering sacrifices to Fo, to save the life of this pearl of my existence."
"By what means, O foolish man, can these bonzes save thy child"s life?
Are not the physicians of Hang-tcheou famous for their skill?"
"Truly they are less than mice; they could not save my child, and I have dismissed them for a holy bonze, whose influence over the G.o.d who protects the lives of the young, has made him promise that my pearl shall not become dissolved in death."
"She is pa.s.sing from us now, O my husband," said the unhappy wife.
"It cannot be, woman; the G.o.d is but chastising you with a terrible fear, for your want of faith; for how is it possible he can refuse so trifling a favor as the life of a young girl, when I have daily offered sacrifices of animals, and money, and burned incense at his altar?"
Shocked at the man"s superst.i.tious belief in the power of Fo, and his brother idols, Nicholas made one other effort to shake it; finding, however, that it was useless, he paid the bill, purchased a lantern for himself and another for Chow, and they went on their way to the Buddhist monastery, the only house wherein he could find shelter for that night.
CHAPTER V.
ADVENTURE IN A BUDDHIST MONASTERY.--CHOW"S ENCOUNTER WITH A BONZE.
To Londoners who find it an easy matter to pa.s.s, at any time of the night, from one end of the metropolis to the other, it may appear that Nicholas and Chow had no very difficult task before them. Such however, was not the case, for in the first place, instead of open thoroughfares, the great streets of the cities of China are barricaded at the ends with chains, and the smaller ones with wicket-gates, at each of which is placed a watchman, whose business it is to question every pedestrian, and through the night to keep clanging a piece of hard wood against a hollow bamboo cane, for the purpose of showing his watchfulness.
As the boys, by aid of their lanterns picked their way through the streets, they found them deserted; with the exception of a few stragglers, each of whom carried a lantern, upon which was ostentatiously emblazoned his name and rank. Imagine all the gas lamps in London extinguished, and their places supplied by a few dancing will-o"-the-wisp kind of lanterns, and you will have a tolerable notion of the appearance of the great cities of China by night. Dismal, truly, but perhaps not more so than were the streets of London not many years since, when they were lighted by flickering oil lamps. Again, as were those of London at the very period when these adventures happened, the streets are so narrow that a good-sized carriage or wagon cannot pa.s.s through without danger to the people, but then the narrowness of the streets was less pardonable in Londoners of that age, than in the Chinese of the present, whose great people ride in sedan-chairs, and whose little people walk, and convey their goods to and fro in narrow carts, like barrows, with one centre wheel. The Celestials are at least consistent in fitting their vehicles to their streets, which is more than could be said of old London, with its gutter streets and heavy lumbering coaches, types of which may be seen every day in the London of the present time.
The street in which the inn was situated was one of the princ.i.p.al, and, therefore, of great length, and along the pavement, which was in the middle of the road, the boys trudged onward, pa.s.sing every now and then beneath one of the numerous Pai-ho, or arches, which are erected to the memory of good magistrates and virtuous women, till they came to a lattice-gate which led into a smaller street, when their progress was arrested, for the watchman was not at his post. They waited for some time, till becoming impatient, Chow kicked the gate, when there arose such a queer hissing noise, that the boy fell upon his face, exclaiming, "My master, my master the demons of Yen-Vang have swallowed the watchman, and are guarding the gate in his stead."
"Thou art a foolish coward," said Nicholas, who clambered up the gate, and after looking through the wicket for a minute let go his hold and laughed immoderately. "O Chow, Chow, thou idiot! not to know a demon from one of thine own kind; surely these demons are nothing but geese;"
and as the watchman opened the wicket Chow saw that the noise which had alarmed him had been caused by a couple of those birds, which the watchman had trained to cackle and hiss at the slightest noise, so that he might take a comfortable nap, with the certainty of being aroused when wanted by the hissing.
"Truly they must be barbarian geese, for I should have understood them had they cackled in Chinese," said Chow.
To get the gate open was one thing, to pa.s.s through another, for perceiving neither name nor rank upon the lanterns, the watchman determined to detain the boys as suspicious characters, and for that purpose began to clang upon his bamboo for a.s.sistance, when a personage came up to the wicket, and both the watchman and Chow bent their heads respectfully. From the yellow robe, the string of beads around his neck, and his shaven head, Nicholas saw that he was a bonze, or priest of Fo.
As this reverend gentleman came through the gate he ran his fingers up and down the beads, and muttered, "O Mi to-fo," and so would have pa.s.sed, but for Chow, who said, "Will the man of prayer pardon an insignificant mouse for interrupting his holy meditations?"
"The dogs are vagabonds, perhaps robbers, who have no name, surname, or profession on their lanterns, O holy bonze," said the polite watchman.
"What would the nameless night prowlers with the priest of Buddha?" said the bonze.
"Truly nothing but a guide to the monastery, where they seek a lodging for which they pray of the holy father to accept alms."
At the word alms the eyes of the bonze sparkled with delight, and having lifted his lantern so as to get a full view of Nicholas, he said to the watchman, "Thou rascal! thy dog"s head hath less brains than these geese, and thine eyeb.a.l.l.s are of lead, or thou wouldst have seen that so well-looking a youth must be of honorable descent; moreover, where was thy charity, that thou wouldst not aid a traveler?"
"Surely the man would be wanting in sense who should suppose that he had the wisdom and divining power of a holy bonze," replied the trembling guardian of the night.
Not deigning, however to notice this observation, the bonze conducted the boys along several streets, till they reached a building surrounded by a high wall, through which, by means of a small gate, they pa.s.sed to an avenue of magnificent trees, paved with marble, and which led to a large gateway, guarded upon each side by a very ugly stone G.o.d. Pa.s.sing through the gateway, they entered a small room lighted from the centre by one large lantern, decorated with portraits of the G.o.d Fo, in every variety of character. This G.o.d, as you may probably know, is represented by almost every kind of animal, biped and quadruped, into which during the lapse of centuries his soul is supposed to have pa.s.sed. Around this room, which was for every day use, were small idols of gilt copper, with ghos-sticks burning before them; on the table, in the centre of the room, stood a time measure, that must remind you of the period of our own King Alfred. It is termed the hourly incense-stick, and is notched at equal distances, and as from notch to notch the stick takes exactly one hour to burn, it accurately marks the pa.s.sing time.
This ghos-stick, so named from its being burned as incense in the ghos-houses or temples of China, is compounded of sawdust mixed with glue and scent, and evenly rolled into thin rods of two or three feet in length; in fact, the very same brown stick adopted by smokers in this country for its pleasant perfume, and continuing to burn till reduced to ashes. Having introduced the boys to this room the bonze withdrew, and shortly afterward sent a servant with blankets and sleeping mats, upon which they stretched themselves, not a little pleased at the opportunity of getting a good sleep after their day"s fatigue.
Long before morning, however, Nicholas was suddenly aroused from his slumbers, and to his surprise saw the bonze upon the floor, with Chow pummeling him with his fists, and crying, "I have thee, I have thee, thou slayer of people"s parents."
Not knowing what to make of this strange scene, Nicholas caught Chow by the arm and endeavored to pull him away; this, however, served but to excite him the more, for he pummeled at the bonze harder than ever. The behavior of the priest was still more surprising, for instead of showing any indignation at this strange treatment, all he said was, "Harm the youth not my son; he is possessed with a demon; he sleeps, poor boy, and mistakes me for some terrible enemy."
This explanation Nicholas soon found to be correct, for poor Chow had been battling in his sleep; but how the bonze came into the boy"s clutches was a mystery, and one that, worn out as he was with fatigue, he did not just then care about solving, so that he could get Chow to his mat again, which after considerable trouble he managed, by telling him that he was an officer of justice and would see that his enemy should be punished. After which Nicholas threw himself upon his mat, fell into a sound sleep, and slept till he was awakened by the deep tones of the monastery bell.
During the morning meal he related the adventure to the much-puzzled Chow, who could remember nothing but that he had dreamed that the slayer of his father suddenly entered the room, and after prowling about for some time, first searched the robe of Nicholas, and then came to his bed, when, thinking he was going to kill him, he attacked him in self-defence; though how his enemy should have become transformed into the bonze, who certainly had no business in the room, was a puzzle that he could not make out.