As the princess and her friend approached, Nicholas almost felt ashamed of his intrusion upon their privacy. Should he not appear to them in the despicable light of an eaves-dropper? Then he would determine to come forward, but fell back again in dread of giving offence. Then the ladies began a conversation, and he dared not interrupt them.

"This then, dear Candida, is the sin-fin that my royal parent values so highly," said the princess, looking at a large black ape of the ourang-outang species, which sat grinning, with its elbows upon its knees.

"Truly, dear princess, this is the wonderful beast that the Prince Li-Kong has presented to the Emperor, from the wild province of Yun-nan," said Candida.

"Candida is surely laughing at her pupil, for is it not said that this Li-Kong is chiefest of the rebels, who have so lately been disturbing my royal parent's repose?"

"Alas! my princess, that it should be necessary to pour words of grief into thy sweet ears," said Candida, sorrowfully.

"What words are these, Candida? What grief can come in such a place of repose? Truly you terrify without answering my question," said the princess, angrily.

"But that my sweet mistress alone possesses the ear of the Emperor, and may open it for the benefit of the starving millions of the empire, her friend and servant would not grieve her," replied the lady.

"Tell me, O Candida, if thou wouldst not vex thy mistress, what mean these words," said the princess, pettishly; adding, "Surely you would not protect the traitor Li-Kong."

"It is of that prince thy servant would speak," said the lady; adding, "Know then, O princess, that, angered at some refusal of thy royal father, the Prince Li-Kong, fled from the court, placed himself at the head of a robber army, and being joined by thousands of the starving people, among whom he made himself popular, took possession of two of the largest provinces, and caused himself to be proclaimed as Emperor, and took the title of Tien-Chun (He that obeys Heaven), persuading the people that he had been appointed by Heaven to deliver them from the cruelty of the Emperor and his ministers."

"Dared the dog say this? Surely my royal father is the parent of his people."

"Nay, O princess, for as it was the duty of my father, the great minister, so is it mine, at the risk of death, to speak the truth. Until within the last moon, the greater part of the empire was in the hands of robbers and assassins, justice was openly sold by the mandarins to the highest bidder, the husbandmen of the hills and fields and the tradesmen in the streets were dying by thousands of starvation, while the Son of Heaven was shut up in his palaces intent upon nothing but his pleasures and the society of the bonzes."

"Candida, dear Candida, thou who art so truth-loving that thou darest even to rebuke thy Emperor, canst thou tell thy friend and mistress that while all is so calm, beautiful, and happy within these walls, there can be so much misery without?" said the princess, trembling with fear.

"Even worse, O dear princess, for while the imperial storehouses are groaning with grain, thousands of people are dying of starvation within the walls of Pekin," replied Candida.

"I dare not doubt thy words, O Candida, yet I will not believe that my great parent would keep close the public storehouses while his children were starving," said the princess.

"It is even worse, O princess, for the daily distribution of food has been withheld," said Candida.

With a vacant stare the princess gazed into the face of her friend for a moment, then with a flood of tears upon her cheeks, fell into her arms; but recovering her presence of mind, she said, "Truly this is a calamity; surely I have heard such things ever precede the downfall of dynasties; but I will to my father's presence, and dutifully implore him on my knees;" and she moved toward the palace as if to act upon her resolution, but Candida caught her in her arms, saying, "It would not be seemly, O princess, nay, it would be useless, for the Prince Li-Kong now possesses the Emperor's confidence."

"What words are these, O Candida? Thou art indeed laughing at thy mistress, for didst thou not say the traitor was in open rebellion?"

"True, my princess, he was, till, for some vile purpose, he made his submission to Ten Thousand Years, who, as he brought the heads of some chiefs of the rebels, pardoned him, in the belief that his rebellion had been a trick, a pretence whereby he had the better subdued the other rebels."

With indignation in her heart at the traitor Li, and her eyes swimming with tears, she placed her hands affectionately in those of her friend—before, however, she could speak she shrieked with fright. The sin-fin had broken his cage and stood as erect as a man, clattering his teeth and grinning in her face, with his great paws upon her neck. The princess fainted; not so the Lady Candida for she boldly clutched hold of the brute, who, however, without relinquishing his grasp of the princess, caught the Lady Candida by her head-dress and hair, and dragged them both in the direction of the lake, looking savagely at the screaming attendants, who scampered off as fast as their legs would carry them; and so rapid were the movements of the brute, that he reached the verge of the water before Nicholas could thrust his sword into his hirsute side, a bit of a surprise that caused the beast to leave his hold of the ladies, when "scotched" but not killed, and catching sight of his real enemy, he uttered a savage scream and sprang at him with extended claws, but so neat was the spring that the weapon of Nicholas passed through his heart, when he gave one last terrific leap and rolled over dead.

The fright, the horror of feeling themselves in the sin-fin's clutches, and the revulsion of feeling at the unexpected relief, made the ladies forget, as you may well imagine, the lesser terror of seeing a strange youth within the prohibited walls. As for Nicholas, he thought only of them both. However, seeing they had been more frightened than hurt, and that they were now regarding him with a mixed expression of gratitude, surprise, and even anger, for so great is the modesty of women, and such the force of the custom in China, that rescue from death itself was scarcely sufficient to suppress the instinctive anger they felt at the intrusion of a boy in so sacred a place; perceiving all this at a glance, Nicholas fell upon his knees, saying, "Pardon, O great princess, for thus thy yellow girdle betokens thee. Let the life of thy mean servant be the penalty for his unpardonable intrusion, and he will not regret it, since he has been the means of saving the daughter of his Emperor, and the Christian-protecting Lady Candida, from the fangs of a vile beast."

"Rise, O youth, for it is not seemly that thou shouldst kneel at the feet of her whose life thou hast saved, and say what chance hath brought thee hither," said the royal lady, smiling with sweet gratitude.

"Surely, O princess, chance can have no influence over the children of God, who must have sent thy servant hither as a manifest of his watchful care for those who obey his word and protect his worshipers," replied Nicholas earnestly.

"Then thou art of the Lord of heaven's religion. But who art thou, O my poor youth, who thus seekest certain death by thy presence here?" said Candida, looking tremulously around, for fear of the approach of any of the eunuchs of the palace.

"Let this, O princess, bespeak the reason of thy servant's intrusion, where even the daring Li-Kong cannot foil his purpose," replied Nicholas, falling upon his knees and presenting his father's letter to the princess, who handed it to Candida, who no sooner glanced at the characters upon the envelope than she said angrily, "This is from the rebel pirate, Chin-Chi-Loong."

"Should thy servant's tongue be torn from his mouth, he would say those words are false, lady. The noble chief is neither pirate nor rebel; if so, thy servant would not have risked his life to place that letter in the hands of the Son of Heaven," said Nicholas firmly.

"If thy words are true, youth——" but as the Lady Candida spoke, a body of armed eunuchs entered the garden, so, giving the letter back to Nicholas, she said, "Haste youth, for thy life;" but knowing the attempt would be useless, he stood his ground firmly.

"No, lady," said he; "thy servant came here to place that letter in the hands of the Emperor." Before he could say more the men had drawn around him.

"Tie the dog hand and foot," said the chief.

"Not so, O Lun-Yin," said the princess.

"Thy slave dare not disobey the laws, O illustrious daughter of the Mings," replied the chief, bowing to the earth.

"Then convey the youth to the presence of the Emperor, for he has treason to disclose, but let not his limbs be bound at the peril of your life, and we will answer to our great father," said the princess.

When the ladies withdrew toward the inner palace the eunuchs led Nicholas through the small gate into a spacious court, which was crowded with soldiers, bonzes and servants, in attendance upon the great lords, who were then in council with the Emperor. Passing through the crowd they entered a magnificent archway of veined marble into a vast court, across which ran a canal of water, so pellucid that shoals of gold and silver fish could be seen playing around the stems of the white-leaved lien-hoa at the bottom. Across this canal was thrown a bridge of glittering white marble, supported upon each bank by lions sculptured from the same material. From this bridge Nicholas could see that the whole court was surrounded with marble terraces, which led through small doorways into the imperial treasure rooms, which were full of precious metals, jewels, valuable furs, rare vases, and costly robes, and a variorum collection of silks, that had been presented from the chief manufactories of the empire. Other rooms contained bows, arrows, saddles, and even specimens of the choicest teas to be found in China. Leaving the treasures they entered the great court of the princes of the blood, whose palaces shone with gilding, japan, and varnish, through which they passed by a small side-gate into the hippodrome, or horse-racing court, which was crowded with mandarins of arms and letters, of inferior rank, besides the state chairs, and horse guards belonging to the princes. As they entered the hippodrome they saw a group of war mandarins gathered around a person who was clamoring for something that the mandarins must have deemed very absurd, for although so near the inner palace, they laughed loudly. Perceiving, however, the chief of the eunuchs, they became suddenly grave, and bowed to the ground three times.

"How is this? Are the dogs tired of their lives, that they venture to make this unseemly uproar within the very hearing of the Son of Heaven himself?" said that officer angrily.

"Truly, the all-powerful Yin would risk his flowery existence, laughing at this paper tiger, who is mad enough to demand an audience with the Son of Heaven," replied one of the mandarins. Before, however, the chief of the eunuchs could reply, the person in question had thrown himself at his feet, crying, "Pardon, O mighty officer of the palace, thy slave, who seeks a master bereft of his senses, and who is now wandering about the palace in search of the Son of Heaven. May he vanquish his enemies."

"Thou, then, art the servant of this dog who has profaned the imperial gardens?" said the chief of the eunuchs; adding, before Nicholas could interfere for Chow, "Let the dog be taken to the prison, as he will doubtless be strangled with his master when the will of the Emperor is known."

Then, in obedience to this command, the boy was hurried away, and Nicholas led forward to the court of the inner palace.