n cheerfully when he burst
out crying. This I interpreted to mean that he would get into trouble if
I did not return, so, of course, I turned back at once, for the tears
of a Chinaman are sadly affecting. Back, then, we were taken to an
excellent inn in the main street, where a respectful _levee_ of the
townsfolk had assembled to welcome me. A polite official called upon me,
to whom I showed, with simulated indignation, my official card and my
Chinese passport, and I hinted to him in English that this interference
with my rights as a traveller from England, protected by the favour of
the Emperor, would--let him mark my word--be made an international
question. While saying this, I inadvertently left on my box, so that all
might see it, the letter of introduction to the Brigadier-General in
Tengyueh, which was calculated to give the natives an indication of the
class of Chinese who had the privilege to be admitted to my friendship.
The official was very polite and apologetic. I freely forgave him, and
we had tea together.

He had done it all for the best. A moneyed foreigner was passing through
his town near sundown without stopping to spend a single cash there. Was
it not his duty, as a public-spirited man, to interfere and avert this
loss, and compel the stranger to spend at least one night within his
gates?

This was what I wrote at the time. I subsequently found that I had been
sent for to come back because the road was believed to be dangerous,
there was no secure resting-place, and the authorities could not
guarantee my safety. Imagine a Chinese in a Western country acting with
the bluster that I did, although in good humour; I wonder whether he
would be treated with the courtesy that those Chinamen showed to me!

On the 25th an elderly chairen was ready to accompany us in the morning,
and he remained with us all day. All day he was engrossed in deep
thought. He spoke to no one, but he kept a watchful eye over his charge,
never leaving me a moment, but dogging my very footsteps all the
hundred li we travelled together. Poorly clad, he was better provided
than his brother of yesterday in that he wore sandals, whereas the
chairen of yesterday was in rags and barefoot. He was, of course,
unprovided with weapon of any kind--it was moral force that he relied
on. Over his shoulder was slung a bag from which projected his
opium-pipe; a tobacco pipe and tobacco box hung at his girdle; a green
glass bottle of crude opium