whole coast with fire and sword, and to get rid of whom the puny officials sought the aid of the Portugals, who traded at one of the outer ports. These barbarians, however, were brave; they sought, fought, and killed the pirate, and destroyed his ships and, as a reward, were permitted to settle at Macao."

"Surely, my father should be grateful to these Portugals, whose priests first shed upon his eyes and heart the light of Christianity," said the boy bowing reverently.

"They taught me for their own ends, and I would not trust the rats."

"But the red-haired barbarians of Formosa, from whom my father has just returned, are they of the same race?"

"Not so, my son, these Dutch dogs are from a distant country called Holland, where the people are so miserably poor they cannot afford even a king."

"Then why, O my father, were such pauper barbarians permitted to place the soles of their feet on the land of Formosa?"

"By fraud and artifice the rogues obtained their hold. During a tempest one of their vessels was driven upon the coast: the crew finding the island to be well situated to their wants, partly by presents, partly by force, persuaded the simple inhabitants to give them only as much land as could be encompassed by the hide of an ox, when the rogues cut the hide into thousands of narrow slips, tied them end to end and therewith measured the earth, to the great surprise and indignation of the inhabitants, who, however, were too powerless to offer resistance. In a short time they were joined by multitudes of their country men and erected yonder fort, which they call the Castle of Zealand."

"Surely the fleet of my father can exterminate these wasps?" said the boy, whom I shall for the future call by his Christian name of Nicholas.

But as at that moment an officer entered the cabin and reported the approach of a strange ship, father and son went on deck, prepared to give either a salute to a friend or a broadside to a foe.

The vessel proving to be a war junk and carrying the dragon flag of the Emperor, they fired a salute of respect, when a signal was made from the junk that she had on board the Mandarin, or Deputy-Governor of Amoy, with a secret communication for the illustrious merchant Chin-Chi-Loong, whereupon the chief bowed respectfully at the name of so great a personage, and prepared to receive him with all the customary tedious formalities.

This visit from so important a personage very much puzzled Nicholas, who stood the whole time the mandarin was closeted with his father, leaning against a gun, in deep thought. When the mandarin had finished and the official had taken his departure, Nicholas returned to the cabin, where he found the chief sitting thoughtfully with his hand upon the satin wrapper of a letter, which from the great seals affixed and the characters Hong Fong (guarded and sealed), he knew must be of great importance and from some high personage.

"My information is truthful," said the chief; "there is treason among the lords of the court, and the dogs believing Chin-Chi-Loong to be as vile as themselves, have offered him the title of king and the island of Formosa, if he will aid them with his ships, wealth, and men."

"What answer made my honorable father?" said Nicholas.

"A promise to consent, that the traitors may be caught like rats in a trap."

"Surely this is not well, for why need the brave stoop to such villainy?" replied the youth boldly.

Not noticing this reply, the chief became pensive for a few minutes, then exclaimed, "Would that I could place a letter in the hands of the Son of Heaven himself!"

"Surely that cannot be a difficulty," said Nicholas.

"Alas! my son, Wey-t-song is so resigned to his pleasures and the company of the vile bonzes, that the audience-denying tablet is for ever suspended at the gates of the inner palace."

"Truly it is a maxim that nothing is impossible to the brave. Let my father place the letter in the hands of his son, and it shall reach the imperial eyes!"

For a minute the chief gazed proudly at the boy, then passing his hand across his eyes, as if to chase away some sad thought, said, "It shall be so, but for nothing less than the safety of his Emperor would Chin-Chi-Loong risk the life of his only son; but haste, and assume the dress of a traveling merchant, while I prepare these important characters."

Without another word Nicholas left the cabin, returning, however, shortly afterward, dressed in a plain robe of coarse brown silk, with a girdle of the same color, a couple of short swords beneath his garment, and thick staff of bamboo.

"This promptness is good and bespeaks success," said the chief, laying his hand on a letter which was enclosed in three wrappers of satin, the outer being sealed in many places, adding, "Secure this packet beneath thy inner robe, for upon its safety may depend the fate of the empire. I know not by what means thou mayest reach the Emperor, therefore, when in Pekin it would be well to seek the merchant Yang, in the great square, who will aid the son of the great merchant of the south." Then taking another letter from the table, he added, "As you pass through the city of Hang-tcheou, seek out Father Adam, the chief priest of the Christians, and place this in his hands; but guard it well, for the contents are such that were they to meet the eyeballs of the bonzes it might prove thy destruction."

Then placing a valuable ring on the boy's finger and telling him to take what silver he might require, till he reached the merchant of Pekin, who would supply him with more, he bid farewell to Nicholas, who, signalling one of the consort ships, went on board, and was soon landed at the port of Amoy.

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 any event of importance. The voyage was, however, rendered very tedious by the idolatry of the sailors, who spent a great portion of their time in offering up presents to a dirty little wooden god stuck behind a small oil lamp, the odor from which was any thing but agreeable. They would moreover frequently stop the ship to offer meat and incense to the images of the sea goddess Ma-tsoo-po, which are perched upon almost every promontory upon the Chinese coast.

They had been at sea, or rather along the coast, for these sailors never venture far from land, six days, when the murky atmosphere, the heavy swell of the waves as they rolled inward, and the fluttering flight of the sea-fowl, betokened a coming storm; and the crew, trembling with fear, thought of little else but making offerings to the dirty little god, praying of him to stop the storm. A sailor and a Christian from his childhood, Nicholas was no less disgusted with their cowardice than their foolish superstition, and really fearing that the ship would be dashed to pieces upon a rock, he earnestly entreated them to exert themselves. His efforts, however, were useless, for their faith was firm in the power of their gods, whose protection they sought to purchase in the following curious manner:—

Taking a quantity of gilt paper, kept on board for the purpose, they cut it into the shape of copper tchen, the only coin in the empire, and threw them into the sea as a bribe to the goddess Ma-tsoo-po; but finding 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 model of 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 with great ceremony, and amidst the deafening clatter of drums and instruments, and their own shoutings to the goddess, to wreak her vengeance upon the toy instead of