CHAPTER XX.
DANGER OF THE PRINCESS.--HER RESCUE BY NICHOLAS.
As the princess and her friend approached, Nicholas almost felt ashamedof his intrusion upon their privacy. Should he not appear to them in thedespicable light of an eaves-dropper? Then he would determine to comeforward, but fell back again in dread of giving offence. Then the ladiesbegan a conversation, and he dared not interrupt them.
"This then, dear Candida, is the sin-fin that my royal parent values sohighly," said the princess, looking at a large black ape of theourang-outang species, which sat grinning, with its elbows upon itsknees.
"Truly, dear princess, this is the wonderful beast that the PrinceLi-Kong has presented to the Emperor, from the wild province ofYun-nan," said Candida.
"Candida is surely laughing at her pupil, for is it not said that thisLi-Kong is chiefest of the rebels, who have so lately been disturbing myroyal parent's repose?"
"Alas! my princess, that it should be necessary to pour words of griefinto thy sweet ears," said Candida, sorrowfully.
"What words are these, Candida? What grief can come in such a place ofrepose? Truly you terrify without answering my question," said theprincess, angrily.
"But that my sweet mistress alone possesses the ear of the Emperor, andmay open it for the benefit of the starving millions of the empire, herfriend and servant would not grieve her," replied the lady.
"Tell me, O Candida, if thou wouldst not vex thy mistress, what meanthese words," said the princess, pettishly; adding, "Surely you wouldnot protect the traitor Li-Kong."
"It is of that prince thy servant would speak," said the lady; adding,"Know then, O princess, that, angered at some refusal of thy royalfather, the Prince Li-Kong, fled from the court, placed himself at thehead of a robber army, and being joined by thousands of the starvingpeople, among whom he made himself popular, took possession of two ofthe largest provinces, and caused himself to be proclaimed as Emperor,and took the title of Tien-Chun (He that obeys Heaven), persuading thepeople that he had been appointed by Heaven to deliver them from thecruelty of the Emperor and his ministers."
"Dared the dog say this? Surely my royal father is the parent of hispeople."
"Nay, O princess, for as it was the duty of my father, the greatminister, so is it mine, at the risk of death, to speak the truth. Untilwithin the last moon, the greater part of the empire was in the hands ofrobbers and assassins, justice was openly sold by the mandarins to thehighest bidder, the husbandmen of the hills and fields and the tradesmenin the streets were dying by thousands of starvation, while the Son ofHeaven was shut up in his palaces intent upon nothing but his pleasuresand the society of the bonzes."
"Candida, dear Candida, thou who art so truth-loving that thou daresteven to rebuke thy Emperor, canst thou tell thy friend and mistress thatwhile all is so calm, beautiful, and happy within these walls, there canbe so much misery without?" said the princess, trembling with fear.
"Even worse, O dear princess, for while the imperial storehouses aregroaning with grain, thousands of people are dying of starvation withinthe walls of Pekin," replied Candida.
"I dare not doubt thy words, O Candida, yet I will not believe that mygreat parent would keep close the public storehouses while his childrenwere starving," said the princess.
"It is even worse, O princess, for the daily distribution of food hasbeen withheld," said Candida.
With a vacant stare the princess gazed into the face of her friend for amoment, then with a flood of tears upon her cheeks, fell into her arms;but recovering her presence of mind, she said, "Truly this is acalamity; surely I have heard such things ever precede the downfall ofdynasties; but I will to my father's presence, and dutifully implore himon my knees;" and she moved toward the palace as if to act upon herresolution, but Candida caught her in her arms, saying, "It would notbe seemly, O princess, nay, it would be useless, for the Prince Li-Kongnow possesses the Emperor's confidence."
"What words are these, O Candida? Thou art indeed laughing at thymistress, for didst thou not say the traitor was in open rebellion?"
"True, my princess, he was, till, for some vile purpose, he made hissubmission to Ten Thousand Years, who, as he brought the heads of somechiefs of the rebels, pardoned him, in the belief that his rebellion hadbeen a trick, a pretence whereby he had the better subdued the otherrebels."
With indignation in her heart at the traitor Li, and her eyes swimmingwith tears, she placed her hands affectionately in those of herfriend--before, however, she could speak she shrieked with fright. Thesin-fin had broken his cage and stood as erect as a man, clattering histeeth and grinning in her face, with his great paws upon her neck. Theprincess fainted; not so the Lady Candida for she boldly clutched holdof the brute, who, however, without relinquishing his grasp of theprincess, caught the Lady Candida by her head-dress and hair, anddragged them both in the direction of the lake, looking savagely at thescreaming attendants, who scampered off as fast as their legs wouldcarry them; and so rapid were the movements of the brute, that hereached the verge of the water before Nicholas could thrust his swordinto his hirsute side, a bit of a surprise that caused the beast toleave his hold of the ladies, when "scotched" but not killed, andcatching sight of his real enemy, he uttered a savage scream and sprangat him with extended claws, but so neat was the spring that the weaponof Nicholas passed through his heart, when he gave one last terrificleap and rolled over dead.
The fright, the horror of feeling themselves in the sin-fin's clutches,and the revulsion of feeling at the unexpected relief, made the ladiesforget, as you may well imagine, the lesser terror of seeing a strangeyouth within the prohibited walls. As for Nicholas, he thought only ofthem both. However, seeing they had been more frightened than hurt, andthat they were now regarding him with a mixed expression of gratitude,surprise, and even anger, for so great is the modesty of women, and suchthe force of the custom in China, that rescue from death itself wasscarcely sufficient to suppress the instinctive anger they felt at theintrusion of a boy in so sacred a place; perceiving all this at aglance, Nicholas fell upon his knees, saying, "Pardon, O great princess,for thus thy yellow girdle betokens thee. Let the life of thy meanservant be the penalty for his unpardonable intrusion, and he will notregret it, since he has been the means of saving the daughter of hisEmperor, and the Christian-protecting Lady Candida, from the fangs of avile beast."
"Rise, O youth, for it is not seemly that thou shouldst kneel at thefeet of her whose life thou hast saved, and say what chance hath broughtthee hither," said the royal lady, smiling with sweet gratitude.
"Surely, O princess, chance can have no influence over the children ofGod, who must have sent thy servant hither as a manifest of his watchfulcare for those who obey his word and protect his worshipers," repliedNicholas earnestly.
"Then thou art of the Lord of heaven's religion. But who art thou, O mypoor youth, who thus seekest certain death by thy presence here?" saidCandida, looking tremulously around, for fear of the approach of any ofthe eunuchs of the palace.
"Let this, O princess, bespeak the reason of thy servant's intrusion,where even the daring Li-Kong cannot foil his purpose," repliedNicholas, falling upon his knees and presenting his father's letter tothe princess, who handed it to Candida, who no sooner glanced at thecharacters upon the envelope than she said angrily, "This is from therebel pirate, Chin-Chi-Loong."
"Should thy servant's tongue be torn from his mouth, he would say thosewords are false, lady. The noble chief is neither pirate nor rebel; ifso, thy servant would not have risked his life to place that letter inthe hands of the Son of Heaven," said Nicholas firmly.
"If thy words are true, youth----" but as the Lady Candida spoke, a bodyof armed eunuchs entered the garden, so, giving the letter back toNicholas, she said, "Haste youth, for thy life;" but knowing the attemptwould be useless, he stood his ground firmly.
"No, lady," said he; "thy servant came here to place that letter in thehands of the Emperor." Before he could say more the
men had drawn aroundhim.
"Tie the dog hand and foot," said the chief.
"Not so, O Lun-Yin," said the princess.
"Thy slave dare not disobey the laws, O illustrious daughter of theMings," replied the chief, bowing to the earth.
"Then convey the youth to the presence of the Emperor, for he hastreason to disclose, but let not his limbs be bound at the peril of yourlife, and we will answer to our great father," said the princess.
When the ladies withdrew toward the inner palace the eunuchs ledNicholas through the small gate into a spacious court, which was crowdedwith soldiers, bonzes and servants, in attendance upon the great lords,who were then in council with the Emperor. Passing through the crowdthey entered a magnificent archway of veined marble into a vast court,across which ran a canal of water, so pellucid that shoals of gold andsilver fish could be seen playing around the stems of the white-leavedlien-hoa at the bottom. Across this canal was thrown a bridge ofglittering white marble, supported upon each bank by lions sculpturedfrom the same material. From this bridge Nicholas could see that thewhole court was surrounded with marble terraces, which led through smalldoorways into the imperial treasure rooms, which were full of preciousmetals, jewels, valuable furs, rare vases, and costly robes, and avariorum collection of silks, that had been presented from the chiefmanufactories of the empire. Other rooms contained bows, arrows,saddles, and even specimens of the choicest teas to be found in China.Leaving the treasures they entered the great court of the princes of theblood, whose palaces shone with gilding, japan, and varnish, throughwhich they passed by a small side-gate into the hippodrome, orhorse-racing court, which was crowded with mandarins of arms andletters, of inferior rank, besides the state chairs, and horse guardsbelonging to the princes. As they entered the hippodrome they saw agroup of war mandarins gathered around a person who was clamoring forsomething that the mandarins must have deemed very absurd, for althoughso near the inner palace, they laughed loudly. Perceiving, however, thechief of the eunuchs, they became suddenly grave, and bowed to theground three times.
"How is this? Are the dogs tired of their lives, that they venture tomake this unseemly uproar within the very hearing of the Son of Heavenhimself?" said that officer angrily.
"Truly, the all-powerful Yin would risk his flowery existence, laughingat this paper tiger, who is mad enough to demand an audience with theSon of Heaven," replied one of the mandarins. Before, however, the chiefof the eunuchs could reply, the person in question had thrown himself athis feet, crying, "Pardon, O mighty officer of the palace, thy slave,who seeks a master bereft of his senses, and who is now wandering aboutthe palace in search of the Son of Heaven. May he vanquish hisenemies."
"Thou, then, art the servant of this dog who has profaned the imperialgardens?" said the chief of the eunuchs; adding, before Nicholas couldinterfere for Chow, "Let the dog be taken to the prison, as he willdoubtless be strangled with his master when the will of the Emperor isknown."
Then, in obedience to this command, the boy was hurried away, andNicholas led forward to the court of the inner palace.