descendants of the great
Confucius would be resumed and their ports open to our trade at the time
fixed--only, not till then!

How those blandly-smiling mandarins must have twinkled their little pig
eyes and tossed their pigtails in gay abandon at the simplicity of the
"Outer Barbarians" whom they thus beguiled in the usual "Heathen Chinee"
fashion, as we subsequently discovered to our cost, although this is
anticipating matters.

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.

A HORNET'S NEST.

Towards the middle of April, to proceed with my regular yarn, within two
months of the time fixed for the ratification of this paper treaty, our
new chief arrived at Singapore; when, taking over the command from his
predecessor, who at once started off in the homeward mail steamer,
Admiral Hope sailed with the fleet to Shanghai--the _Candahar_ forming
part of the squadron that escorted our ambassador, Mr Bruce, to the
mouth of the Peiho River, where he was appointed to meet the Chinese
officials and with them journey on to Pekin, there to complete all the
requisite formalities for the final execution of the treaty.

Reaching Shanghai without mishap and finding Mr Bruce ready to
accompany us, although the mandarins had already interposed obstacles to
delay his departure in order to evade the obligations they had entered
into on behalf of their imperial master in the art of subterfuge and
evasion, we proceeded on the 11th June to the Gulf of Pechili; anchoring
under the lee of the Sha-liu-tien, or "Wide-spreading-sand Islands,"
some fifteen miles off the entrance to the Peiho.

The water here being too shoaly to allow the larger vessels of the fleet
to approach near the shore, the admiral embarked aboard one of the
smaller gunboats, thinking the coast clear and everything peaceful; but
on getting close to the mouth of the river, he discovered to his
surprise that a series of formidable earthworks had been erected on both
banks in place of the Taku Forts which Admiral Seymour had destroyed in
the preceding year.

The river itself, also, had been rendered impassable by a series of
booms and stakes, so arranged as to be protected by the fire of the
batteries, whose numerous embrasures spoke to their containing a large
number of guns; while, to remove any doubts as to the hostile character
of these preparations, the officer Admiral Hope sent to acquaint the
authorities in charge of these fortifications of the arrival of our
ambassador was refused