CHAPTER V.
ADVENTURE IN A BUDDHIST MONASTERY.--CHOW'S ENCOUNTER WITH A BONZE.
To Londoners who find it an easy matter to pass, at any time of thenight, from one end of the metropolis to the other, it may appear thatNicholas 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 withchains, and the smaller ones with wicket-gates, at each of which isplaced a watchman, whose business it is to question every pedestrian,and through the night to keep clanging a piece of hard wood against ahollow bamboo cane, for the purpose of showing his watchfulness.
As the boys, by aid of their lanterns picked their way through thestreets, they found them deserted; with the exception of a fewstragglers, each of whom carried a lantern, upon which wasostentatiously emblazoned his name and rank. Imagine all the gas lampsin London extinguished, and their places supplied by a few dancingwill-o'-the-wisp kind of lanterns, and you will have a tolerable notionof 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 yearssince, when they were lighted by flickering oil lamps. Again, as werethose of London at the very period when these adventures happened, thestreets are so narrow that a good-sized carriage or wagon cannot passthrough without danger to the people, but then the narrowness of thestreets was less pardonable in Londoners of that age, than in theChinese of the present, whose great people ride in sedan-chairs, andwhose little people walk, and convey their goods to and fro in narrowcarts, like barrows, with one centre wheel. The Celestials are at leastconsistent in fitting their vehicles to their streets, which is morethan could be said of old London, with its gutter streets and heavylumbering coaches, types of which may be seen every day in the London ofthe present time.
The street in which the inn was situated was one of the principal, and,therefore, of great length, and along the pavement, which was in themiddle of the road, the boys trudged onward, passing every now and thenbeneath one of the numerous Pai-ho, or arches, which are erected to thememory of good magistrates and virtuous women, till they came to alattice-gate which led into a smaller street, when their progress wasarrested, for the watchman was not at his post. They waited for sometime, till becoming impatient, Chow kicked the gate, when there arosesuch a queer hissing noise, that the boy fell upon his face, exclaiming,"My master, my master the demons of Yen-Vang have swallowed thewatchman, 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 andlaughed immoderately. "O Chow, Chow, thou idiot! not to know a demonfrom 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 hadalarmed him had been caused by a couple of those birds, which thewatchman had trained to cackle and hiss at the slightest noise, so thathe might take a comfortable nap, with the certainty of being arousedwhen wanted by the hissing.
"Truly they must be barbarian geese, for I should have understood themhad they cackled in Chinese," said Chow.
To get the gate open was one thing, to pass through another, forperceiving neither name nor rank upon the lanterns, the watchmandetermined to detain the boys as suspicious characters, and for thatpurpose began to clang upon his bamboo for assistance, when a personagecame up to the wicket, and both the watchman and Chow bent their headsrespectfully. 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 upand down the beads, and muttered, "O Mi to-fo," and so would havepassed, but for Chow, who said, "Will the man of prayer pardon aninsignificant mouse for interrupting his holy meditations?"
"The dogs are vagabonds, perhaps robbers, who have no name, surname, orprofession on their lanterns, O holy bonze," said the polite watchman.
"What would the nameless night prowlers with the priest of Buddha?" saidthe bonze.
"Truly nothing but a guide to the monastery, where they seek a lodgingfor which they pray of the holy father to accept alms."
At the word alms the eyes of the bonze sparkled with delight, and havinglifted his lantern so as to get a full view of Nicholas, he said to thewatchman, "Thou rascal! thy dog's head hath less brains than thesegeese, and thine eyeballs are of lead, or thou wouldst have seen that sowell-looking a youth must be of honorable descent; moreover, where wasthy charity, that thou wouldst not aid a traveler?"
"Surely the man would be wanting in sense who should suppose that he hadthe wisdom and divining power of a holy bonze," replied the tremblingguardian of the night.
Not deigning, however to notice this observation, the bonze conductedthe boys along several streets, till they reached a building surroundedby a high wall, through which, by means of a small gate, they passed toan avenue of magnificent trees, paved with marble, and which led to alarge gateway, guarded upon each side by a very ugly stone god. Passingthrough the gateway, they entered a small room lighted from the centreby one large lantern, decorated with portraits of the god Fo, in everyvariety of character. This god, as you may probably know, is representedby almost every kind of animal, biped and quadruped, into which duringthe lapse of centuries his soul is supposed to have passed. Around thisroom, which was for every day use, were small idols of gilt copper, withghos-sticks burning before them; on the table, in the centre of theroom, stood a time measure, that must remind you of the period of ourown King Alfred. It is termed the hourly incense-stick, and is notchedat equal distances, and as from notch to notch the stick takes exactlyone hour to burn, it accurately marks the passing time.
This ghos-stick, so named from its being burned as incense in theghos-houses or temples of China, is compounded of sawdust mixed withglue and scent, and evenly rolled into thin rods of two or three feet inlength; in fact, the very same brown stick adopted by smokers in thiscountry for its pleasant perfume, and continuing to burn till reduced toashes. Having introduced the boys to this room the bonze withdrew, andshortly afterward sent a servant with blankets and sleeping mats, uponwhich they stretched themselves, not a little pleased at the opportunityof getting a good sleep after their day's fatigue.
Long before morning, however, Nicholas was suddenly aroused from hisslumbers, and to his surprise saw the bonze upon the floor, with Chowpummeling 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 bythe arm and endeavored to pull him away; this, however, served but toexcite him the more, for he pummeled at the bonze harder than ever. Thebehavior of the priest was still more surprising, for instead of showingany indignation at this strange treatment, all he said was, "Harm theyouth not my son; he is possessed with a demon; he sleeps, poor boy, andmistakes me for some terrible enemy."
This explanation Nicholas soon found to be correct, for poor Chow hadbeen battling in his sleep; but how the bonze came into the boy'sclutches 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 tohis mat again, which after considerable trouble he managed, by tellinghim that he was an officer of justice and would see that his enemyshould be punished. After which Nicholas threw himself upon his mat,fell into a sound sleep, and slept till he was awakened by the deeptones of the monastery bell.
During the morning meal he related the adventure to the much-puzzledChow, who could remember nothing but that he had dreamed that the slayerof his father suddenly entered the room, and after prowling about forsome time, first searched the robe of Nicholas, and then came to hisbed, when, thinking he was going to kill him, he attacked him inself-defence; though how his enemy should have become transformed intothe bonze, who certainly had no business in the room, was a puzzle thathe could not make out.
The explanation of the bon
ze was, that he had entered his visitors'apartment to see that they had been properly attended to by theservant--an explanation not at all satisfactory to Chow, who as soon asthe priest left the room said, "Is my master's girdle safe? for theseholy fathers are great rogues."
Alarmed for the safety of his letters, Nicholas examined his girdle;they were safe; when shocked at his insinuation, the repentant Chowexclaimed, "Truly, my master, Chow is less than the least of littledogs, and must crave the good father's forgiveness,"--which he took thefirst opportunity of doing, by falling upon all fours before the priestand knocking his forehead to the ground, till the latter in pity liftedthe boy upon his legs again.