DANGER OF THE PRINCESS.--HER RESCUE BY NICHOLAS.
As the princess and her friend approached, Nicholas almost felt ashamed
of his intrusion upon their privacy. Should he not appear to them in the
despicable light of an eaves-dropper? Then he would determine to come
forward, but fell back again in dread of giving offence. Then the ladies
began a conversation, and he dared not interrupt them.
"This then, dear Candida, is the sin-fin that my royal parent values so
highly," said the princess, looking at a large black ape of the
ourang-outang species, which sat grinning, with its elbows upon its
knees.
"Truly, dear princess, this is the wonderful beast that the Prince
Li-Kong has presented to the Emperor, from the wild province of
Yun-nan," said Candida.
"Candida is surely laughing at her pupil, for is it not said that this
Li-Kong is chiefest of the rebels, who have so lately been disturbing my
royal parent's repose?"
"Alas! my princess, that it should be necessary to pour words of grief
into thy sweet ears," said Candida, sorrowfully.
"What words are these, Candida? What grief can come in such a place of
repose? Truly you terrify without answering my question," said the
princess, angrily.
"But that my sweet mistress alone possesses the ear of the Emperor, and
may open it for the benefit of the starving millions of the empire, her
friend and servant would not grieve her," replied the lady.
"Tell me, O Candida, if thou wouldst not vex thy mistress, what mean
these words," said the princess, pettishly; adding, "Surely you would
not 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 royal
father, the Prince Li-Kong, fled from the court, placed himself at the
head of a robber army, and being joined by thousands of the starving
people, among whom he made himself popular, took possession of two of
the largest provinces, and caused himself to be proclaimed as Emperor,
and took the title of Tien-Chun (He that obeys Heaven), persuading the
people that he had been appointed by Heaven to deliver them from the
cruelty of the Emperor and his ministers."
"Dared the dog say this? Surely my royal father is the parent of his
people."
"Nay, O princess, for as it was the duty of my father, the great
minister, so is it mine, at the risk of death, to speak the truth. Until
within the last moon, the greater part of the empire was in the hands of
robbers and assassins, justice was openly sold by the mandarins to the
highest bidder, the husbandmen of the hills and fields and the tradesmen
in the streets were dying by thousands of starvation, while the Son of
Heaven was shut up in his palaces intent upon nothing but his pleasures
and the society of the bonzes."
"Candida, dear Candida, thou who art so truth-loving that thou darest
even to rebuke thy Emperor, canst thou tell thy friend and mistress that
while all is so calm, beautiful, and happy within these walls, there can
be so much misery without?" said the princess, trembling with fear.
"Even worse, O dear princess, for while the imperial storehouses are
groaning with grain, thousands of people are dying of starvation within
the walls of Pekin," replied Candida.
"I dare not doubt thy words, O Candida, yet I will not believe that my
great parent would keep close the public storehouses while his children
were starving," said the princess.
"It is even worse, O princess, for the daily distribution of food has
been withheld," said Candida.
With a vacant stare the princess gazed into the face of her friend for a
moment, then with a flood of tears upon her cheeks, fell into her arms;
but recovering her presence of mind, she said, "Truly this is a
calamity; surely I have heard such things ever precede the downfall of
dynasties; but I will to my father's presence, and dutifully implore him
on my knees;" and she moved toward the palace as if to act upon her
resolution, but Candida caught her in her arms, saying, "It would not
be seemly, O princess, nay, it would be useless, for the Prince Li-Kong
now possesses the Emperor's confidence."
"What words are these, O Candida? Thou art indeed laughing at thy
mistress, for didst thou not say the traitor was in open rebellion?"
"True, my princess, he was, till, for some vile purpose, he made his
submission to Ten Thousand Years, who, as he brought the heads of some
chiefs of the rebels, pardoned him, in the belief that his rebellion had
been a trick, a pretence whereby he had the better subdued the other
rebels."
With indignation in her heart at the traitor Li, and her eyes swimming
with tears, she placed her hands affectionately in those of her
friend--before, however, she could speak she shrieked with fright. The
sin-fin had broken his cage and stood as erect as a man, clattering his
teeth and grinning in her face, with his great paws upon her neck. The
princess fainted; not so the Lady Candida for she boldly clutched hold
of the brute, who, however, without relinquishing his grasp of the
princess, caught the Lady Candida by her head-dress and hair, and
dragged them both in the direction of the lake, looking savagely at the
screaming attendants, who scampered off as fast as their legs would
carry them; and so rapid were the movements of the brute, that he
reached the verge of the water before Nicholas could thrust his sword
into his hirsute side, a bit of a surprise that caused the beast to
leave his hold of the ladies, when "scotched" but not killed, and
catching sight of his real enemy, he uttered a savage scream and sprang
at him with extended claws, but so neat was the spring that the weapon
of Nicholas passed through his heart, when he gave one last terrific
leap 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 ladies
forget, as you may well imagine, the lesser terror of seeing a strange
youth within the prohibited walls. As for Nicholas, he thought only of
them both. However, seeing they had been more frightened than hurt, and
that they were now regarding him with a mixed expression of gratitude,
surprise, and even anger, for so great is the modesty of women, and such
the force of the custom in China, that rescue from death itself was
scarcely sufficient to suppress the instinctive anger they felt at the
intrusion of a boy in so sacred a place; perceiving all this at a
glance, Nicholas fell upon his knees, saying, "Pardon, O great princess,
for thus thy yellow girdle betokens thee. Let the life of thy mean
servant be the penalty for his unpardonable intrusion, and he will not
regret it, since he has been the means of saving the daughter of his
Emperor, and the Christian-protecting Lady Candida, from the fangs of a
vile beast."
"Rise, O youth, for it is not seemly that thou shouldst kneel at the
feet of her whose life thou hast saved, and say what chance hath brought
thee hither," said the royal lady, smiling with sweet gratitude.
"Surely, O princess, chance can have no influence over the children of
God, who must have sent thy servant hither as a manifest of his watchful
care for those who obey his word and protect his worshipers," replied
Nicholas earnestly.
"Then thou art of the Lord of heaven's religion. But who art thou, O my
poor youth, who thus seekest certain death by thy presence here?" said
Candida, looking tremulously around, for fear of the approach of any of
the 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," replied
Nicholas, falling upon his knees and presenting his father's letter to
the princess, who handed it to Candida, who no sooner glanced at the
characters upon the envelope than she said angrily, "This is from the
rebel pirate, Chin-Chi-Loong."
"Should thy servant's tongue be torn from his mouth, he would say those
words are false, lady. The noble chief is neither pirate nor rebel; if
so, thy servant would not have risked his life to place that letter in
the hands of the Son of Heaven," said Nicholas firmly.
"If thy words are true, youth----" but as the Lady Candida spoke, a body
of armed eunuchs entered the garden, so, giving the letter back to
Nicholas, she said, "Haste youth, for thy life;" but knowing the attempt
would be useless, he stood his ground firmly.
"No, lady," said he; "thy servant came here to place that letter in the
hands of the Emperor." Before he could say more the men had drawn around
him.
"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 the
Mings," replied the chief, bowing to the earth.
"Then convey the youth to the presence of the Emperor, for he has
treason to disclose, but let not his limbs be bound at the peril of your
life, and we will answer to our great father," said the princess.
When the ladies withdrew toward the inner palace the eunuchs led
Nicholas through the small gate into a spacious court, which was crowded
with soldiers, bonzes and servants, in attendance upon the great lords,
who were then in council with the Emperor. Passing through the crowd
they entered a magnificent archway of veined marble into a vast court,
across which ran a canal of water, so pellucid that shoals of gold and
silver fish could be seen playing around the stems of the white-leaved
lien-hoa at the bottom. Across this canal was thrown a bridge of
glittering white marble, supported upon each bank by lions sculptured
from the same material. From this bridge Nicholas could see that the
whole court was surrounded with marble terraces, which led through small
doorways into the imperial treasure rooms, which were full of precious
metals, jewels, valuable furs, rare vases, and costly robes, and a
variorum collection of silks, that had been presented from the chief
manufactories 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 the
blood, whose palaces shone with gilding, japan, and varnish, through
which they passed by a small side-gate into the hippodrome, or
horse-racing court, which was crowded with mandarins of arms and
letters, of inferior rank, besides the state chairs, and horse guards
belonging to the princes. As they entered the hippodrome they saw a
group of war mandarins gathered around a person who was clamoring for
something that the mandarins must have deemed very absurd, for although
so near the inner palace, they laughed loudly. Perceiving, however, the
chief of the eunuchs, they became suddenly grave, and bowed to the
ground three times.
"How is this? Are the dogs tired of their lives, that they venture to
make this unseemly uproar within the very hearing of the Son of Heaven
himself?" said that officer angrily.
"Truly, the all-powerful Yin would risk his flowery existence, laughing
at this paper tiger, who is mad enough to demand an audience with the
Son of Heaven," replied one of the mandarins. Before, however, the chief
of the eunuchs could reply, the person in question had thrown himself at
his feet, crying, "Pardon, O mighty officer of the palace, thy slave,
who seeks a master bereft of his senses, and who is now wandering about
the palace in search of the Son of Heaven. May he vanquish his
enemies."
"Thou, then, art the servant of this dog who has profaned the imperial
gardens?" said the chief of the eunuchs; adding, before Nicholas could
interfere for Chow, "Let the dog be taken to the prison, as he will
doubtless be strangled with his master when the will of the Emperor is
known."
Then, in obedience to this command, the boy was hurried away, and
Nicholas led forward to the court of the inner palace.