re) have obeyed the behests which I have had
the never-to-be-extinguished honour to convey from him to you. There is
a prisoner in the boat--a prisoner who is to be tried before those high
and merciful judges whose Heaven-sent authority your valorous commander
of the Ever Victorious Army has upheld."

Carpenter, being a sailor man before all else, swallowed the mandarin's
compliments for all they were worth, and I can imagine him giving a
grumpy nod to the smiling minion of the Viceroy as he ordered "the
prisoner" to be brought on deck, and the boat to be veered astern for
towing.

The official interposed oilily. There was no need, he said, to tow the
boat to Canton if she could not be hoisted on board, and was likely to
impede the steamer's progress. Some of his braves could remain in her,
and the insignia of the Viceroy which they wore would ensure both their
and the boat's safety--no pirates would touch them.

The captain said that to tow such a heavy boat for such a long distance
would certainly delay the steamer's arrival in Canton by at least six or
eight hours. The mandarin smiled sweetly, and said that as speed was
everything the most honourable navigator, whom he now had the privilege
to address, and who was so soon to be distinguished by his mightiness
the Viceroy, could at once let the boat which had conveyed his worthless
self into the sunshine of his (the captain's) presence, go adrift.

At a sign from Kwang, six of his cutthroats clambered down the side into
the boat, which was at once cast oft; the steamer was sent along under a
full head of steam, and the captain was about to ascend the bridge when
the mandarin stayed him, and requested that a meal should be at once
prepared in the cabin for the prisoner, who, he said, was somewhat
exhausted, for his capture was only effected after he had killed three
and wounded half a dozen of "the braves." So courageous a man, he added
softly, whatever his offence might be, must not be allowed to suffer the
pangs of hunger and thirst.

Carpenter gave the necessary order to the steward with a sensation of
pleasure, feeling that he had done the suave and gentle-voiced Kwang an
injustice in imagining him to be like most Chinese officials--utterly
indifferent and callous to human suffering. Then he stepped along the
deck towards the bridge just as two of the braves lifted the prisoner to
his feet, which a third had freed from a thong of hide, bound so tightly
around