y a faint idea that some piece of good fortune was in store for
him.

While the two captains were in conference, a handsome Chinese boat came
off, and a mandarin of rank stepped on deck. He "chin-chinned" as the
midshipmen drew up on either side of the gangway to do him honour, and
the captains, hearing of his arrival, came out to receive him. He of
course again "chin-chinned" to them, when, through an interpreter he had
brought with him, he stated that "he had come to make a request which he
hoped would not be denied."

Captain Rogers answered "that he should be happy to render any service
that was in his power."

The mandarin replied, "that although he should consider the favour a
great one, the trouble to him would not be so."

"Pray state, my friend, what it is," said Jack.

"Understand, that my beloved brother died a few days ago of a malignant
fever, and that his body is now deposited in the Ning-foo Jos-house,
outside the city walls. He belongs to Teit-sin, where his family
reside, and as there is a difficulty in sending him by a merchant
vessel, I shall feel deeply obliged if you will convey his coffin to
that place, where it may be deposited with his august ancestors," was
the answer.

Adair, when he heard what was said, could not refrain from bursting into
a fit of laughter. Jack tried to compose his countenance as he told the
mandarin that it was with much regret he must refuse his request, as the
ship would not certainly get so far as Teit-sin, and that it was not
usual for men-of-war to carry about dead bodies, except in rare
instances; that when people died on board, they were buried at sea, and,
especially for sanitary reasons, he could not receive that of a person
who had died of a malignant fever.

In vain the mandarin pleaded that his brother was shut up tightly and
would not cause the slightest annoyance. Jack was firm, and the
mandarin had to return and allow his brother to remain in the Jos-house
until navigation was opened. Terence had brought word for the _Empress_
to proceed to the mouth of the Peiho in the Gulf of Pe-chili, as it had
been resolved at once to recapture the Taku Forts and to march the army
to Pekin, should the emperor not immediately yield to the demands of the
British ambassador.

The summer had begun and the weather was remarkably fine. The two ships
sailed along in company, getting up steam only when the wind fell light.

Gerald and Billy Blueblazes were trans