that they had never seen the dead man before in their lives.
So I tried to feel easy.

But soon after breakfast, and almost in the full heat of the day, there
came off a galley with two of the Hong merchants and no less a person
than Mr. '--', the Chief of the H.E.I.C.'s factory. He brought serious
news. The boat had drifted up the river and had been recovered by a
crowd of Chinese, who took out the dead man and laid him on the doorstep
of the factory, clamouring that he had been killed, the day before, by
an Englishwoman; and threatening, unless she were given up, to seize the
first supercargo that came out and carry him off to be strangled.

I answered, describing the scuffle and declaring my readiness to swear
that the body bore no resemblance to the fellow whose ear Margit had
boxed. But I knew how little this testimony would avail in a Chinese
court. The two Hong merchants assured me that their brother, the
_Macartney's_ guarantor, was already in the hands of the magistrates,
who had handcuffed him and were threatening him with the bamboo: that an
interdiction lay on the _Macartney's_ cargo, and Mr. '--' himself ran no
small risk of imprisonment.

Our position was at once absurd and extremely serious. To do him
justice, Mr. '--' at once agreed that there could be no question of
delivering up Margit: the penalty of her offence, if proved to the
satisfaction of the Chinese magistrates, being--I can hardly bring
myself to write it--nothing short of strangulation. He could only
promise to accept for the while the risks of delay and do his utmost to
bribe the magistrates into compromising the matter for a small fine.

He proved as good as his word. For five weeks the _Macartney_ lay at
anchor without discharging a pennyweight of her cargo; and every day
brought a new threat, edict, or proclamation. At the end of the first
week the security merchant was allowed to send his agents to offer a
reward of 10,000 dollars to any man of our crew who would swear to
having seen the Englishwoman strike the deceased. The agents conducted
their parley from a boat, and only made off on being threatened with a
bucket of slops. I kept the ship's guns loaded, and set on a double
watch, night and day. His wife's peril threw Obed into a state of
apprehension so pitiable that I began to fear for his mind. Margit, on
the other hand, behaved with the coolest composure: and I had some
trouble in persuading her to remain below d