'I believe that the lazy little beggar has learned a few characters.'

Thus they continued for several minutes, each one underrating himself and his own possessions, while exaggerating the importance of everything pertaining to the other; and then pipes and coffee were brought in. With these came several attendants, each of whom performed a different sort of obeisance, corresponding to his position in the household. There are no fewer than eight gradations of salutation, from the mere clasping of the hands to the knocking the head nine times upon the floor, so that there was a good deal of pantomimic action. To Conway's great relief, this seemed to have no effect upon the risibility of his friend, who indeed was looking very grave. His hearing, like his other physical senses, was especially acute, and certain sounds of shouting and tumult without had reached him. Presently the number of the attendants in the room became augmented; among them were some of the soldiers from the boat, but there were also other soldiers.

The mandarins in China, as Conway was aware, have no 'business hours,' as we term them, but are subject at any time to have the claims of justice urged upon them; therefore the sudden appearance of two police officials followed by their myrmidons did not occasion any alarm to him. Pennicuick, on the other hand, grew, not alarmed, indeed- for to fear he might with truth be said to be a stranger-but suspicious of danger. He maintained an air of politeness, but his stern face grew dark, and he mechanically pushed his chair back to the wall.

With a wave of his hand, as if to bespeak his visitors' pardon for his momentary neglect of them, the mandarin turned slowly to the foremost police official, who addressed him with an excitement very unusual; for an inferior in China is to his superior always respectful, even to the very carriage of his pigtail. was plain that something had happened to override even the national regard for ceremony.

It

So rapidly did the man speak, that Conway was unable to gather any sense from his words except that it was some sort of accusation, and his astonishment was great indeed on seeing the mandarin suddenly turn round and point towards his friend. At the same moment, as if in obedience to the signal, he saw Fu-chow emerge from the crowd, with several soldiers, and make a rush at Pennicuick. Quick as thought, the latter leapt from his seat and drew a revolver from his pocket; the next instant Fu-chow, for certain, would have been sent to Hades, and in all probability the mandarin after him, had not Conway, with a warning cry of Madman! what would you do?' struck the muzzle of the weapon upwards,

so that the bullet buried itself harmlessly in the roof of the apartment. Before Pennicuick could recover himself, a dozen men were on him, and he was disarmed and thrown upon the floor. A soldier on either side of Conway had also seized each an arm, though he made no sign of resistance.

'We are Englishmen, Twang-hi,' he exclaimed in a loud voice, ' and claim the protection of our flag.'

"If what I have just heard is true,' returned the mandarin, the Son of Heaven himself could scarcely protect yonder wretch. He has committed a sacrilege more impious than has yet entered into the brain of man to execute.'

This is some terrible mistake or lying charge, your Excellency.'

'Mistake!' cried the mandarin in a tone of horror; look yonder !'

Conway looked, and beheld the treacherous Fu-chow holding in his open palms, with a mixture of malignant joy and superstitious reverence, a shining something, like the drop of a chandelier.

'It is the sacred Shay-le of Buddha, O barbarian devil!' continued Twang-hi, that your comrade has stolen from its tenthousand-year-old shrine.'

'It is impossible!' cried Conway, in tones almost as horrorstricken as those of the other; for he well knew the heinous nature of such an outrage in Chinese eyes, and also its consequences. 'I saw him place it round his neck last night,' put in Fu-chow, and have just taken it from thence with my own hands.'

O Pen, is this true?' cried Conway in a tone of agony,'that you took away the Shay-le?'

"Yes, it's true enough,' returned Pennicuick, speaking with some difficulty from the number of Chinese upon his chest, but still with a certain characteristic scorn. I was a fool to do it, of course, and I am sorry for it; but not half so sorry as that you made me miss that whey-faced scoundrel Fu-chow with my first barrel.'

Not a syllable of this, of course, was intelligible to those who heard it, except that Fu-chow caught the sound of his own name. As he did so, the same look of vindictive fury came into his face that Conway had noticed in it on that night when the captain had played the spy.

'You would not turn traitor, surely, and destroy those who have fed you?' pleaded Conway desperately.

'No,' said Fu-chow slowly; only, the guilty must needs be punished. His Excellency here, as my father the mandarin has informed me, is one whose justice never fails. I will tell him you are a good man; how you defended my daughter from this devil, and