the river, and do as much harm to his reputation as to the war junks and sampans it encountered.
He would tread a middle course warily, like a walker on a tightrope. Accordingly, he called for tea, then for hot damp towels, which servants held expertly to his brow. Thus refreshed, he sent for his principal secretary, who arrived, writing brush in hand. Lu began to dictate a message to the Hong merchants. If they took their share of the good things in trading with the Barbarians, then they must also bear their quota of the bad.
First, he told them of the arrival of a Western official who was not a merchant. The ideograph for this perplexed the secretary, until he decided that the official was obviously a Barbarian and come to see what he could. So he referred to Napier as the Barbarian Eye.
'When this Order is received by the said Hong merchants,' Lu intoned in his official and impressive voice, 'let them immediately go into Macao and ascertain clearly from the Barbarian Eye why he has come to Canton province.
'And let them authoritatively enjoin upon him the laws of the Celestial Empire, to wit that, with the exception of the merchants and the taipans, their heads, no other Barbarian can be permitted to enter Canton, save after a report has been made and an Imperial Mandate received.
‘The said Barbarian Eye, if he wishes to come to Canton, must inform the said Hong merchants, so that they may petition me, the Viceroy, and I will by express messenger send a memorial, and all must respectfully wait until His Majesty deigns to send a_ Mandate. Then orders will be issued requiring obedience. Oppose not! A special order!
'Now,' Lu told the secretary in his usual speaking voice, 'post up copies where they may be seen — and speedily.'
The secretary fled away, impressed by the obvious urgency of his orders. The Hong merchants, crowding round the copies as they were nailed up on public notice boards, acted even more swiftly. Half a dozen of the most senior immediately dropped all other work and set off for Macao in the fastest boat they could command. This sailed through inner creeks and swampy passages which no Westerner knew, for it was imperative, that they should reach Macao before this Barbarian Eye, acting perhaps in ignorance or folly or maybe (might heaven and their ancestors forbid) in malevolence, set sail for Canton.
Should he land there without the necessary permission, then great would be their distress. The Viceroy would use the Barbarian's disobedience to his command as another lever to squeeze out more money from them in case he was to be punished himself.-
As their boat, with its naked sweating rowers, under its clouds of billowing canvas, approached Macao, they saw with alarm that the quay was empty of large craft. A few sampans bobbed against the slime-encrusted steps, but there were no vessels of consequence, and no sign of any British man-of-war. The Barbarian Eye had gone, and with him an enormous part of their fortune.
As the prow of their vessel scraped uselessly against the steps, and one of the crew made fast, the bells of the twelve churches in Macao began to strike three o'clock, the Hour of the Horse. Some bells boomed, others were flat and cracked. But so far as the worried merchants were concerned, all sounded a dirge; a knell for a lost chance, a lost fortune.
The Parsee stood, as he always stood in the morning, looking out to sea, watching, his ships carrying his cargoes. His treasure sailed in. their deep holds, and his heart travelled with it.
A merchantman was coming up the Roads, tacking from side to side against the summer wind. She sped gracefully over the water like a huge sea bird, white wings extended.
The Parsee sipped tea thoughtfully from an oval cup without a handle. Behind him, a little to one side, as was fitting for an inferior, waited a man of much darker skin. Although his dhoti was well cut and his sandals correctly curled at the toes, a-glitter with semi-precious
He would tread a middle course warily, like a walker on a tightrope. Accordingly, he called for tea, then for hot damp towels, which servants held expertly to his brow. Thus refreshed, he sent for his principal secretary, who arrived, writing brush in hand. Lu began to dictate a message to the Hong merchants. If they took their share of the good things in trading with the Barbarians, then they must also bear their quota of the bad.
First, he told them of the arrival of a Western official who was not a merchant. The ideograph for this perplexed the secretary, until he decided that the official was obviously a Barbarian and come to see what he could. So he referred to Napier as the Barbarian Eye.
'When this Order is received by the said Hong merchants,' Lu intoned in his official and impressive voice, 'let them immediately go into Macao and ascertain clearly from the Barbarian Eye why he has come to Canton province.
'And let them authoritatively enjoin upon him the laws of the Celestial Empire, to wit that, with the exception of the merchants and the taipans, their heads, no other Barbarian can be permitted to enter Canton, save after a report has been made and an Imperial Mandate received.
‘The said Barbarian Eye, if he wishes to come to Canton, must inform the said Hong merchants, so that they may petition me, the Viceroy, and I will by express messenger send a memorial, and all must respectfully wait until His Majesty deigns to send a_ Mandate. Then orders will be issued requiring obedience. Oppose not! A special order!
'Now,' Lu told the secretary in his usual speaking voice, 'post up copies where they may be seen — and speedily.'
The secretary fled away, impressed by the obvious urgency of his orders. The Hong merchants, crowding round the copies as they were nailed up on public notice boards, acted even more swiftly. Half a dozen of the most senior immediately dropped all other work and set off for Macao in the fastest boat they could command. This sailed through inner creeks and swampy passages which no Westerner knew, for it was imperative, that they should reach Macao before this Barbarian Eye, acting perhaps in ignorance or folly or maybe (might heaven and their ancestors forbid) in malevolence, set sail for Canton.
Should he land there without the necessary permission, then great would be their distress. The Viceroy would use the Barbarian's disobedience to his command as another lever to squeeze out more money from them in case he was to be punished himself.-
As their boat, with its naked sweating rowers, under its clouds of billowing canvas, approached Macao, they saw with alarm that the quay was empty of large craft. A few sampans bobbed against the slime-encrusted steps, but there were no vessels of consequence, and no sign of any British man-of-war. The Barbarian Eye had gone, and with him an enormous part of their fortune.
As the prow of their vessel scraped uselessly against the steps, and one of the crew made fast, the bells of the twelve churches in Macao began to strike three o'clock, the Hour of the Horse. Some bells boomed, others were flat and cracked. But so far as the worried merchants were concerned, all sounded a dirge; a knell for a lost chance, a lost fortune.
The Parsee stood, as he always stood in the morning, looking out to sea, watching, his ships carrying his cargoes. His treasure sailed in. their deep holds, and his heart travelled with it.
A merchantman was coming up the Roads, tacking from side to side against the summer wind. She sped gracefully over the water like a huge sea bird, white wings extended.
The Parsee sipped tea thoughtfully from an oval cup without a handle. Behind him, a little to one side, as was fitting for an inferior, waited a man of much darker skin. Although his dhoti was well cut and his sandals correctly curled at the toes, a-glitter with semi-precious
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