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Show The next day A-siwk went on lManl 1 the Harlequin.' His father wptit with ! liim and formally presented him to tho captain. "Ilim nod hgy( now, bimeby no ran tell." ho repeated solemnly, iw ho took his departure with the comprador. , A-sung looked nbout with wonder, j Tlir dork was clean and white. Four ! cannon wore mounted, black and throat-! throat-! enim; two O-poundor carronades on tho quarter deck, a long 1-pounder pivot i gun iuniilhijia and a tl-pounder pivot on the forecastle. Swarthy, active sailor sail-or vero at work on irek or in the rig' ! pin;. They were all Manila men from the Philippine islands who ripen k tho ! ?p;nn:,h language. The captain, his two rentes rnd tho clerk w re the only whita men on board. A-simrj was sent hel-nv to the Chinese tfi ward to be instructed in his ditties. Wl'."t! ho came on deck nga;n in" the afternoon af-ternoon lie beheld uv. animate'! scene. Two JoiiR, pull away boats wero alongside along-side the biivk. Tliey carried masts with tuattin.T Htiilw, and besides nulhid iiliont twenty oarf: on each They wevo arrned with .eriugals fixed in Bwivelt on tho snnwale: thescj were Chine.si iire- i lie gave the boy the bundle and affain took polite leave. A-sting now hnrripd to tlie hiiidini,' and got there just in time to tfo off with the comprador. ('apt. Denvillo kindly gavo hira per-iniwion per-iniwion to return to the ''lantern feast" after ho had performed s few duties, and by the time the comprador was ready to return the niht watch was already on deck. Then A-sunp; happened to think of th cheroots, lie ran lielow, mitied .the bundle and brought up a handful, which ho distributed amonK tho Manila failure, with whom ho was already a Ki'eat favorite. Then he kvp a couple to the Keeond mate, who was the officer of tho wutch, and sprang into tho boat. When he reached the village tho "lantern feast" was in full progress. Tho si reef was crowded wilb gayly dressed children carrying colored lanterns lan-terns rnd forming in line for tho procession. pro-cession. In tin midst of this joyful scene, when j tho merriment was at its height, a palo, ragjted, muddy figure appeared at A-snii"8 sido and touched hit arm. Ho ; recoffiiiwd tlif) siave girl whom ho hud befriended. She was sltivoritig with , i.i i A-SUaN'GAM.) THE I'lUATkS A-ynni; wns a ('hinee boy wlo li v .o. In tiio f.inniir,' vii!:i(,e i no-kuh, near lie Chre-Ki-:iiiK or Pearl river, about fifteen iiiil'-s I low C'l'itoti, His father b;!oi:jrod to thai- highly es;oei:i"d cla'iS I Niiiirr or f.'niiers, cold and fear. "Come, venerable, sir," slip said, ''I must tell you somelliin." They retired c, fevz steps, while the throng oi children looked on with wonder. won-der. "There is a fishing village' fifteen le from here,'' continued the jcirl hurriedly, hur-riedly, "and three biif pirate boats ro from tlie.-p to attack the barbarian ship to-ni,'ht. My master and the rest have Roiio to join them. 1 followed them. The pirates were beat;nj the K"ifrs and burninj; the joss jiajiers t ain the favor if the j;ods. Do not use tho cheroots tho man gave yon today; they are drugged with tho smelling stuffs of thieves and robbers to make men sleep!" A-sung gave a cry of astonishment and despair. For a moment ho was stupefied; then he threw down his gay lantern, ami darted away toward the boat landing at bis greatest speed. In a little while he had aroused the wiiii;, carrying ;i lartfo ball. A unmix r of Chinese of Mercantile np-pe.inmeo np-pe.inmeo were on deck earnestly conversing con-versing whh Capt. Der.villw. A Rrent many hinall t bests i mango wood, covered cov-ered with rawhide, were piled near by. One of these was 'open, and A-sung saw that the upper half of the chest was divided di-vided into 1 went)' compartments, in each of which was a dark brown liall of iieeu-liar iieeu-liar appparauco and smell. Evidently there was tho same nunils r of bulls ia the lower part of the client. A-sung soon found out that this was crude opium, and that the merchants were buying 1t. He was on tn opium Bhip. I The purchasers paid for the drug sometimes some-times with Spanish or Mexican dollars and sometime with silver ingots called sycee. The coins had all been stamped over and over again with Chinese stamps until they were completely defaced. These wero called "chop dollars." Tho value of both coins and sycee was ascertained ascer-tained by weight. ' A-fiUliK was one ot trie nniriirosi scnoi-ars scnoi-ars in tlie village school. IJut A-sun;;'s futher was poor and had many children, o he felt compelled to take his son from school to save the cNpense, and also that he might have his help m the paddy field. A-sung was in a somewhat melancholy niood one bright afternoon as he sat beneath be-neath a clump of muHierry trees near the river. From his little knoll he could gaze over wide expanses of rice fieldu, and before him spread the broad surface of the river at Blenheim Reach. A beautiful American bark lying at anchor half a utile away was tho object of his earnest attention. .Suddenly there was n preat pud of white smoke from Ipt deck, followed by a heavy report. A-suug seemed to have been watching for this. He directed his gaze to a black speck a mile down the river, and saw the splashes as the shot struck near it and rieoehettcd on otter the surface. The crow were practicing at the guns. When the firing censed a small boat left tho bark, directed toward a point higher up tiio river, and ho knew that some of the officers were coming ashore to take exercise on horseback, as was their custom. A-sung sprang up and started buck to the village. On his w ay he had to pass near a small fishing hamlet situated on an inlet of the river. Ileliitrried iilotii? with some trepidation, trepi-dation, for the inhabitants had a bad reputation. It was reported that they were addjeted to smuggling and piracy in their swift boats, called "fast crabs." 'comprador and acquainted him with his fears. They hurriedly entered a small boat and pulled away for tho Harlequin. As they lieared the ship they distinctly beard tho dip of the sweeps as the pirate boats approached. They had almost reached their prey. A-sung clambered np tho sido and reached the deck with difficulty lte-tween lte-tween tho boarding nettings. Thero was no challenge. All was still on board. Several dark figures were stretched out on the deck forward. Ho darted aft. Tim second mate was in a profound slumber, breathing heavily. heav-ily. He shook tho officer, but found it impossible to awake him. The drilled cigars had done their work effectually. Ifo glanced fearfully around. One of the pirato boats was close at hand, looming loom-ing up darkly, propelled bvr. irreat num- As tho merchant paid the silver it was passed over to the "shroff," a grave, spectacled Chinaman, who sat at his table under tho awning on the quarter deck, and with his brass balances carefully care-fully a pertained tho value of it. H had need of care, for he was under heavy bonds for the correct tierfurmanee of his duty. After A-sung had been on board the Harlequin a week ho, was much puzzled at tho difference in tho behavior of these people who came to buy opium. Some boats canie in broad daylight and took the drug away openly, whilo others came stealthily at night, in haste nnd fear, and sometimes the ship's boat cautiously took away a chost or two up some less frequented inlet, carefully avoiding the mandarin bouts that p,v t rolled tho river. A-sung asked tho steward for an explanation ex-planation of this difference, nnd learned that the exalted emperor at Peking objected ob-jected to opium being imported into the land, and therefore it was sometimes smuggled. As for tho boats that came openly he sitplosed that they found means "to cover np men's ears and eyps," meaning, perhaps, that they bribed the mandarins. This was in 18-1:1, and the steward's explanation ex-planation was probably correct. A-sung was .much interested in the boarding nettings, which were triced up every night from tho rail to the rigging. These were for protection against night attacks by Chinese pirates, who were many and dangerous in those waters. But what excited his greatest interest was the practice at the big guns, ; At first the loud reports nearly made him jump out of his blue and gold slip-pers, slip-pers, but he soon became accustomed to tho noise. The cannon wero touched off But ho came to a sudden halt as loud, piteous screams came from one of tho lltll!. ' ' A huge, ugly Chinaman came ont dragging a girl whom be was beating ntinii rcit'ully with a thick pieco of bamboo. bam-boo. Ihi wore short, wide trousers, a tiirry quilted bloino ami a broad hat of ba'JiUio sl .'ips. His feet were bare. Hit wa n vicioi s looking ruffian. At last the girl broko away from him and ran twifily toward A-sung, pursued by her ton rc: if. The boy's first thonght was to take to his !!, bnt )n boldly waited till the lit;.'! rc.iciied him, when he grasped l r v. ::i: t and darted away behind an eiK.:.'.',l;i!U'!it int.') a patch of tall reeds, t where t hey both lay panting until their ::nor gavo up tho search. The sill was quite pretty, but ragged n:i rovewl with lirmwes. She was cry-S.n;; cry-S.n;; with pain and fright. A-sung's eyes filh'd with I ears of sympathy. "Was that your father?" he asked pityingly. pity-ingly. "No, ver.er-i'ole sir," sobbed the girl. ber of oars. Wild with fright, A-sung rushed forward to the forecastle scream-' scream-' ing: i "Pirates! pirates! Ahoy, hi yi!" 1 Tho men on deck were all in a leaden slumber, but some of the watch had evidently sneaked below on finding that tho mate had gono to sleep. At A-sungs cries three sailors rushed on deck. Though confused, they comprehended com-prehended in a moment fho imminent danger, and sprang forward to the pivot gun amidships. By that time the pirate : boat was almost alongside, and suddenly sudden-ly there burst from her crowded dpek tho most frightful din of gongs and savage yells, together with a fierce discharge dis-charge of musketry and gingals. Several large, flaming missiles were thrown over fho boarding nettings upon the deck. Three fell clo.se to the pivot gun, where they lay blazing and smoking, smok-ing, emitting a most horrible and suffocating suffo-cating stpnch, Unable to endure it, the sailors were driven from the gun. One of them ran aft to tho cabin, fhouting "S.-nor Captain! Ladrones! "Ho hougnt me. "OH!" Kr.itl A-rn;g, with contempt at iho thonght of helping a .slave girl. But tis bettor fooHng.t prevailed. He felt in his pocket and drev,' out two pieces of cai'h nnd a ball. "TaUo these," ho said. "I'm sorry for you. Better wait till ho goes to sleep before yon go b:ick." Then lie rose and crept cr.iitiously away so as not to attract attention. In a little vhilo ho reached the village. An he approached ho saw two foreigners foreign-ers on hor. eback in tho street surrounded by more than 200 children, who were dancing about and .shouting, "Cooc-che! cooc-che!" (Throw cash.) The grown poplo crowded tho doorways enjovint the pport. Tho two men were laughing heartily, and scattering handfuls of cooper coo-per cash f o se? the children scramble for it. When they had emptied their pockets pock-ets they rodo on, still laughing, and met A-sung. They wero dressed in white w.u a bui-h, m oruin io litsulon, nnd at night some of these were always al-ways kept burning near tho mainmast in readiness for asndilen attack. "Venerable young brother," said the steward one day to A-sungj "how many dollars' worth of opium do you think are in this barbarian ship?" "Venerable elder brother, I do not know," replied A -snug. "There are four hundreds of thou- : Kinds." said' tho Rteward. ' "Verily it would be a rich prize for tho pirates." Two weeks after A-snng joined the Harlequin ho .asked the captain's p?r-luittsion p?r-luittsion to go ana pay his respects to his ' father. Capt. Denvillo granted his re- I quest , and ho went ashore in tho com- 1 prador's boat. With a light heart ha : trudged away toward tho village, wherj he was received with great joy by his ; father and by Lis young friends aud Echoolmates. Ho spent a very happy day. All tin ladrones!" Another ran to the forecastle fore-castle to nronso his shipmates. The third stood as if paralyzed. Already the piratee were grappling the ship and" preparing pre-paring to pour on board. At this perilous moment a desperate resolve inspired A-sung. Since he had caused this disaster he would at least do what he could to atone for it was his thought. Ho drew a deep breath, and as the captain and Prescott reached tho deck they saw A-sung dash forward throngh the fumes of the burning "fire pots," seize a joss stick from the mainmast main-mast and touch off the long eighteen pomnler. Thero was a stunning report. The pirato boat was wrapped in smoke, from which cauie fearful howls, screams, groans. Tho gun happened to be trained exactly upon tho crowded deck ' of the jiirata, and being double shotted with canister tho effect of tho discharge i wa;i terrible. Bv this time the rest of the crew -.ri ! on deck, and the carrouado and the gun ; en tho forecastle wero fired into tho other pirate boats that wore tanrfjut to get alongside, and tne sailors gavo ihem ti volley jf mnskeiTy. Prwcctt at the head of nirnn of tho nost resolute mrn threw the blazing "f; o pots' overboard, extinguished the fla ties, and then, reloading re-loading -.he eighteen pounder, poured another blast into ti: t first boat, which was trying to get off, badly crippled. Poor A-sung was -.ricked up limp and penseless from the d ck, where he had fallen suffocated aft r so bravely firing j the gun. That one ; hot began the disastrous dis-astrous repulse of the pirates. It was Fome lime before he was levived, and ' when he regained cot seriousness the bat- ; tie was over. j icon limed on page 7.1 j linen, and one of them wore a Panama hat, tho other a bluo cap with a gold baud. A-tjUiig recognized them as officers offi-cers of the bark. v "Say, Prescott," said tho one with rho hat, "there's a boy that would suit me. Speak to him." They stopped, r.nd Prescott addressed A-sung in Chineue. "What is your name, boy?" "A-sung, venerable tir." replied A-sung. "What is your name, venerable vener-able sir?" he added politely. ".Never mind," replied Prescott. "Tho venerable Lord Captain Denvillo wants ft boy to serve him. Lend iw to your father, and oppo- not." A-sung's eyes sparkled joyfully. Ibis-tily Ibis-tily he led the way along the granito paved street, and stopped before a low, neat house, inscriptions on red pap;r and an urn for jo-s sticks were at the entrance. His father came to the dooi cniniren or me village were eagerly preparing pre-paring for their "Lantern Feast," which waa to take place that night. This is tho children's festival ia tho spring, when they are allowed to have their own way in everything and indulge in merrymaking merry-making to their hearts' content. A-sung wished to stay ashore that ' night, in order to take part in the festivities, festivi-ties, but as Capt. Denville would expect him to come on board he resolved to go out to the ship with the comprador in tho evening and ask leave of absence till the next day. So at evening he walked , back to the landing. Cn the way he saw two men approaching approach-ing hiisi, one of whom ho thought was the ruffian who had beaten the slave girl, lie was not sure of this, however, as this pri'SOTi toc!t another path and soon disappeared. The i,ther man came on and met hira. Ho wm a portly, well dressed China- a grave, dignified tanner. A-sung put his hands together and saluted him with deep respect and said: 'Venerable father, luw is the venerable vener-able lord captain and the venerable lord ' Never Mind,' who want a boy to S'.-rve them." Prescott restrained his desire to laugh at A-sung's inisfako regarding bis name, and briefly informed the farmer of Capt. iDemille's wish to employ his son as Wm boy, foi wia he would pav hiu f 10 a month. After duo consideration the farmer consented, aud it was arranged ar-ranged that A-sung should come aboard the next day in the boat of the eompra-fior eompra-fior the man who supplied the ship with fresh provisions. "Is A-sung a good boy." asked Capt, Denville. "liim good boy now, bimeby no crjn tell," replied the farmer gravely. The officers rodo away, and his father paid to A-sung: "Doubtless the gods thus dtuff their favor. With the money thus ', gained from these barbarians you can re-eume re-eume your sublime studies, and my son : hall yet brina honor to my old age." ! wan, and saluted A-snng politely, with an engaging smile. Ho stopped and proceeded pro-ceeded to address srmny flowery and flattering flat-tering remarks to tho boy, in the course of which he alluded to his connection with the Harleij-.-.in, claiming to be himself him-self an old friend of Capt. lVnville's. Although A-snng was in a hurry ho listened with pleasure to one who had evidently formed such a high opinion of him at eight, and lit . replied unsuspectingly unsuspect-ingly to some adroit questions regarding the armament and regulations of the ship. At last the stranger took leave of him, courteously wishing him ubundant felicity felic-ity aud the highest honors and promotion. promo-tion. Then, as if with a sudden thought, ho took from the breast of his rich over garment a small bundle tied up in a silk handkerchief. "Venerable younger brother," he said, "here are some excellent cheroots with which to regale the sailors and officials of the barbarian ship. They are espe cially choice for those who watch at night, as they will banish the god of drowf' ;' i i (Cor.t nued tr -tn page S. I When Capt. Dcnville heard the whole itory, he highly praised A sung for hie I prompt and courageous action, but also l warned htm against being deceived by ehrewd ratieals, no matter how fine their drees or how pleasing their umiinni'g. The men who had been stupefied by the drugged cigaia- soon recovered, but the second mate never forgave the boy who had caused his discomfiture. " A-sunjr told the captain of the important impor-tant service the slave girl had rendered, and expressed his fears for her fate if the piratos should suspect that she had betrayed be-trayed them. So the nest day Capt. Denville, A-snng and a party of armed sailors wont to the fishing hamlet. Dimvill readied the hovel first and burst in the door. They had evidently arrived jnst iu time. The little slave girl was dodging about the small room, pursued by the big Chinese rufriiin, who was slushing at her with a heavy scimitar. 0 Tlio villain htu' been wounded in the attack on the ship. His jaw was bound tip with it dirty bundajje, and ha conld baroly limp about. This had enabled the child to escape his deadly blows, but as Denville entered be had penned hor in a corner. The captain drew his pistol, and ootn pclled the pirate to drop his sword. ll tiifu sternly announced Ins intention of taking the luvo girl away, mid that little lit-tle us tUo mfliur, ileervel it he wouM jiay a rf-ivaonnble price for lirf . The pirate, scowling furiously from tho bench where ho hud sunk, did not object to this, but coolly mentioned a mot exorbitant price. Denville, with ont wastiiiK word s. placed one-tenth of the amount on the bench, and told the fc'irl that she now belonged to him. Ho then udtlreMcd tho pirate again, and threatened liiw with the severest punishment if he ever followed or persecuted per-secuted the girl. Aftr this the party left tho village, taking with them t) little slave, who exhibited a joy that wrts really pHthctio. Tho girl, whoso name waa Le Won, was given her freedom and placed in the family of A-sung's father, where nhe would be kindly treated Capt. Denville engaging to pay for her maintenance until sho was married. A-sung remained on board the Hurls-quin Hurls-quin a year, during which time he made a voyage to India. Then ho returned to his native village and resumed his studies stud-ies of the Confucian classic that road to honor nnd fame in tho Flowery Land. Charles E. Brimblecom in Youih'a Companion. |