re by
O-po-tae's defection, that the Government could not reduce them by
force, and he thought by keeping his faith with them, he might turn the
force of those who had submitted against those who still held out, and
so destroy the pirates with the pirates. Consequently the eight thousand
men, it had been proposed to cut off in cold blood, were allowed to
remain uninjured, and their leader, O-po-tae, having changed his name to
that of Hoe-been, or, "The Lustre of Instruction," was elevated to the
rank of an imperial officer.

The widow of Ching-yih, and her favorite Paou, continued for some months
to pillage the coast, and to beat the Chinese and the Mandarins' troops
and ships, and seemed almost as strong as before the separation of
O-po-tae's flag. But that example was probably operating in the minds of
many of the outlaws, and finally the lawless heroine herself, who was
the spirit that kept the complicate body together, seeing that O-po-tae
had been made a government officer, and that he continued to prosper,
began also to think of making her submission.

"I am," said she, "ten times stronger than O-po-tae, and government will
perhaps, if I submit, act towards me as they have done with O-po-tae."

A rumor of her intentions having reached shore, the Mandarin sent off a
certain Chow, a doctor of Macao, "Who," says the historian, "being
already well acquainted with the pirates, did not need any
introduction," to enter on preliminaries with them.

When the worthy practitioner presented himself to Paou, that friend
concluded he had been committing some crime, and had come for safety to
that general _refugium peccatorum,_ the pirate fleet.

The Doctor explained, and assured the chief, that if he would submit,
Government was inclined to treat him and his far more favorably and more
honorably than O-po-tae. But if he continued to resist, not only a
general arming of all the coast and the rivers, but O-po-tae was to
proceed against him.

At this part of his narrative our Chinese historian is again so curious,
that I shall quote his words at length.

"When Fei-heung-Chow came to Paou, he said: 'Friend Paou, do you know
why I come to you?'"

"Paou.--'Thou hast committed some crime and comest to me for
protection?'"

"Chow.--'By no means.'"

"Paou.--'You will then know how it stands concerning the report about
our submission, if it is true or false?'"

"Chow.--'You are again wrong here, Sir. What are you in compari