The War Tiger

by William Dalton

  CHAPTER II.

  THE DEMON SHIP.--THE BOY CHOW.

  Taking a passage in a merchant junk bound to the port of Ning-Po,Nicholas continued his journey for some days without meeting with anyevent of importance. The voyage was, however, rendered very tedious bythe idolatry of the sailors, who spent a great portion of their time inoffering up presents to a dirty little wooden god stuck behind a smalloil lamp, the odor from which was any thing but agreeable. They wouldmoreover frequently stop the ship to offer meat and incense to theimages of the sea goddess Ma-tsoo-po, which are perched upon almostevery promontory upon the Chinese coast.

  They had been at sea, or rather along the coast, for these sailors neverventure far from land, six days, when the murky atmosphere, the heavyswell of the waves as they rolled inward, and the fluttering flight ofthe sea-fowl, betokened a coming storm; and the crew, trembling withfear, thought of little else but making offerings to the dirty littlegod, praying of him to stop the storm. A sailor and a Christian from hischildhood, Nicholas was no less disgusted with their cowardice thantheir foolish superstition, and really fearing that the ship would bedashed to pieces upon a rock, he earnestly entreated them to exertthemselves. His efforts, however, were useless, for their faith was firmin the power of their gods, whose protection they sought to purchase inthe following curious manner:--

  Taking a quantity of gilt paper, kept on board for the purpose, they cutit into the shape of copper tchen, the only coin in the empire, andthrew them into the sea as a bribe to the goddess Ma-tsoo-po; butfinding that the marine lady's favor was not to be bought so cheaply,the whole crew began to busy themselves in building a paper ship, which,by the way, was so ingeniously constructed that it formed an exact modelof their own junk, being complete with masts, ropes, sails, flags,compass, rudder, a crew, victuals, and even a book of accounts.

  When this redoubtable vessel was finished they let it into the sea withgreat ceremony, and amidst the deafening clatter of drums andinstruments, and their own shoutings to the goddess, to wreak hervengeance upon the toy instead of her adorers' ship.

  Nevertheless the hard-hearted goddess was not to be caught with tinsel,for the storm raged with such terrible violence that the frail barkwould speedily have been dashed to atoms but for Nicholas, who, afterpersuading a few of the least obstinate of the men to help him, set towork and managed to keep her head so straight that they passed throughthe channel without touching the rocks by which it was bounded oneither side. So fearful was the hurricane of circular winds that theshivering crew could see trees torn up by the roots as easily as corksout of bottles by corkscrews. At length, however, the storm subsided,and the sailors believing that nothing less than a deity could haveenabled their vessel to live in such a storm, fell upon their kneesbefore Nicholas and thanked him for quelling the fury of the elements.

  "Let my brothers toss their stupid idol into the sea, and offer upthanks to the One true God of heaven, who alone has saved them," saidthe boy.

  Enraged at this insult to their god, the sailors gave full vent to theirdisapprobation, and would have tossed the bold youth into the sea butfor a sudden cry from the look-out man.

  "The wasps of the ocean! the wasps of the ocean are upon us!"

  At this cry the crew took alarm, and ran to different parts of thevessel, and armed themselves with pikes, swords, or any weapon uponwhich they could place their hands.

  Taking the glass from the trembling hands of the look-out man, Nicholasendeavored to make out the cause of the alarm. It was a large floatingobject at a great distance, and bore some resemblance to a ship, still,notwithstanding the track it left behind in the water, he was doubtful;but before he could make up his mind the captain snatched the glass fromhis hands, glanced through it, declared his opinion that it was a waspof the ocean, or pirate, and ordered his vessel to be put back, withthe hope of outrunning her.

  Then the first officer took the glass, and after gazing for some time,said, "Truly, my brothers, this is no ship, but a frightful demon thatthe insulted Ma-tsoo-po has sent from the bottom of the sea to devour usfor carrying this impious youth."

  This was sufficient for the superstitious fear of the crew, who,clustering toward Nicholas, with one voice cried, "Over the side withthe irreligious dog."

  Seeing no other chance, the boy ran to the stern of the vessel, and,keeping them at a distance with his sword, said, "Let my brothers opentheir ears. Their servant has brought this calamity upon them, but willyet save them from the anger of the demon by seeking him before hereaches the vessel, for surely the demon will be satisfied with onevictim."

  "The boy's words are good, and if he will pay for the boat it shall beso, otherwise it is not well that we should lose its value," said theartful captain, fearing he should lose any money Nicholas might haveabout his person.

  "Back, rat!" said he to the advancing captain, keeping him off with hissword and springing side-ward on to the edge of the junk, adding, "Lowerthe boat, with provisions, and I will give you silver; refuse, and Iwill leap into the sea."

  Fearing he would keep his word, the crew placed some rice cakes and asmall water cask in the boat and lowered it; and when Nicholas saw itfairly afloat, and held but by one cord, he scrambled down the side likea cat, drew his sword across the rope, threw a handful of silver uponthe deck, and pulled so hard at the oars that in a very short time hewas far out of the cowards' reach and on his way to the floating demon;which, however he had no sooner caught full sight of than he laughedtill he could handle the oars no longer, for the terrible demon who hadscared the wits of the sailors proved to be neither more nor less than agreat tree which the circular winds had wrested from the earth with suchviolence that the root had dragged with it a mass of earth and pebblessufficient to keep it afloat in a perfectly upright position, when, withits spreading branches and lower boughs, it bore in the distance no badresemblance to a well-rigged vessel.

  Rowing cautiously, for fear the tree might topple over and upset hisboat, he heard a faint cry. Surely it could not be human; he listened;again he heard it; and looking upward you may imagine his astonishmentat seeing a boy sitting across one of the upper branches.

  "Who cries for help?" said Nicholas.

  "It is the miserable Chow, who must die if the benevolent stranger willnot aid him," was the reply.

  "Canst thou swim, O Chow? If so, drop into the water, for I dare notcome nearer," said Nicholas; but scarcely had he spoken when a stronggust of wind toppled the tree over with its great arms stretched out asif to save itself from falling. Fortunately it fell in an oppositedirection to the boat. In the fall the boy was dashed so violently uponthe water, that becoming instantly senseless he would have sunk but forNicholas, who, getting hold of the long hair of his head, managed todrag him into the boat. Upon recovering his senses he said, "Alas! then,Yen-Vang has poor Chow after all."

  "Thou art far away from the king of the lower regions, my poor Chow,"said Nicholas.

  "By the social relations, I am alive and on earth--no, on water--andungrateful to the benevolent stranger," said the boy, holding his headwith both hands, as if the better to comprehend his situation.

  "Satisfy thy hunger and say how it happened that Chow came to be perchedlike a wild goose on a masthead," said Nicholas, giving the boy some ofthe rice cakes, which he devoured as ravenously as if he had not tastedfood for a week.

  The lad, who had so unexpectedly made the acquaintance of Nicholas, wasa tall, bony youth of about sixteen, with a broad forehead, sparklingblack eyes, and covered with a coarse robe, so torn and tattered, thathe might have passed for a beggar of the lowest class.

  When he had satisfied his hunger, Chow clasped the knees of his newfriend, and with tears of gratitude flowing down his cheek, said, "Chowwill be thy slave, O generous stranger, for truly it could be for noother purpose that the gods have saved his life."

  "Tush! talk not of slavery or gods, Chow, but say what is thy name,surname, and the rank of thy family," said Nicholas.

  "Truly
, the story of Chow is as miserable as his own mean person. I amfrom Tun-Hien, in Ching-Foo, in the province of Tche-Kiang. My fatherwas a mandarin of the fifth rank, who having taken a good degree, heldoffice under the governor of the fort, till one moon since, when theterrible rebel, Li-Kong, took possession of the city in defiance of theSon of Heaven himself, and massacred all who would not submit; my fatherbeing one of the first to acknowledge the traitor, became the first tobe punished for his disloyalty to our holy Emperor, which happened asthy servant will relate.

  "One day, my mother, who was accounted very handsome, so far forgot thesocial regulations laid down for women, as to stand gazing from a windowwhile a body of soldiers passed through the street. For that unbecomingact, both my venerable father and myself suffered, for the officerclattered at the door, when the servants not daring to refuse sopowerful a personage, admitted him to the house, when he ran into theinner apartment of my mother, who was so alarmed at such barbarianbehavior, that she rose to leave, when the villain would have carriedher away but for thy insignificant servant, who clutched his throat andso gashed his cheek that the waters even of the yellow stream will neverwash them out.

  "Hearing the struggle, the soldiers came to the rogue's help, and wouldhave killed poor Chow, but for my father, who, returning at the moment,compelled the officer, bad and bold as he was, to make his escape; but,alas! no sooner had the rogue left, than instead of being grateful, myfather burst into loud lamentations, crying, 'Alas, alas! that ever somean a person was born, for thou hast insulted the chief favorite of theprince, who will assuredly be revenged;' and so it proved, for the nextday we were all taken before the prince, who ordered the whole family tobe exterminated, and our house burnt to the ground; but what was worse,alas! my father was not even strangled, but disgraced by being sent tothe yellow stream incomplete, for he was beheaded on the spot, and thevillain officer begged his wife as a slave, to which, in her misery, mymother offered to consent if they would but spare the life of thymiserable servant, her son. To this the prince consented, but theofficer was so enraged at the wound in his cheek, that he ordered me tobe dressed in beggar's rags, and beaten out of the town toward the sea.Accordingly the wretches beat me till I could not stand, and left me tostarve and die on the sea-shore.

  "For days and days I wandered in the hope that some fisherman would takecompassion upon me; but alas! none dared to encourage so treasonous ayouth for fear of suffering similar punishment; then, but for the hopethat retaining my miserable existence would some fortunate day enable meto punish the villain, I should have thrown myself into the sea,although even that consolation I could not seek without impiouslyforgetting my duty to my father, for has it not been wisely said that weshould not live beneath the same heaven with the destroyer of ourparents?"

  "It is a pagan doctrine, Chow; but how came you upon yonder perch?" saidNicholas.

  "Without hope, tired, and sad, I wandered along the coast till the greatstorm sent the terrified wild animals in all directions; to escape fromthem I climbed a tree upon the very verge of the sea, when shortlyafterward the wind-demon blew one great gust which carried it into thesea, where its great spreading root and the earth around kept itfloating till the benevolent stranger came to my rescue."

  "Thou shalt be revenged upon this villain officer, my poor Chow, andupon the greater rogue, Li-Kong," said Nicholas.

  "How,--what words are these? surely the benevolent stranger cannot be inhis senses to speak thus of men so powerful," replied the astonishedChow.

  "What would Chow do to obtain the punishment of his enemies? Would hefaithfully serve the stranger who has saved his life?"

  "If these are the words of truth,--and who is thy mean servant that heshould doubt?--O wonderful stranger, Chow will be thy slave till he goesto meet his ancestors."

  "Then, surely as I have spoken, it shall be so. But how wouldst thouknow this vile rogue again?"

  "Is it possible for a son to forget the slayer of his parent, even ifthe wound in his face would not betray him?" said Chow, who gazingearnestly in the face of Nicholas, added, "Art thou really a boy or aman of short measure?"

  "Truly, like thyself, a boy of long measure and ample fullness, whosemean surname is Nicholas," said the other laughing.

  "No, no, noble Nicholas, not like Chow; for if a boy, thou art like himwho became the Emperor Tait-sou, a little great man-boy," said Chow.