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Page 37
Upon this Chang gave certain instructions to his followers, who
thereupon prepared to advance. Perceiving that the last detail of the
affair had been arrived at, Ling threw back his hanging garment, and
was on the point of rushing forward to meet them, when Mian, who had
maintained a possessed and reliant attitude throughout, pushed towards
him the vessel of pure and sparkling liquid with which they had been
engaged when so presumptuously broken in upon, at the same time
speaking to him certain words in an outside language. A new and
Heaven-sent confidence immediately took possession of Ling, and
striking his sword against the wall with such irresistible force that
the entire chamber trembled and the feeble-minded assassins shrank
back in unrestrained terror, he leapt upon the table, grasping in one
hand the open vessel.
"Behold the end, O most uninventive and slow-witted Chang-ch'un!" he
cried in a dreadful and awe-compelling voice. "As a reward for your
faithless and traitorous behaviour, learn how such avaricious-minded
incompetence turns and fastens itself upon the vitals of those who
beget it. In spite of many things which were not of a graceful nature
towards him, this person has unassumingly maintained his part of the
undertaking, and would have followed such a course conscientiously to
the last. As it is, when he has made an end of speaking, the body
which you are already covetously estimating in taels will in no way be
distinguishable from that of the meanest and most ordinary maker of
commercial ventures in Canton. For, behold! the fluid which he holds
in his hand, and which it is his fixed intention to drain to the last
drop, is in truth nothing but a secret and exceedingly powerful
counteractor against the virtues of the gold drug; and though but a
single particle passed his lips, and the swords of your brilliant and
versatile murderers met the next moment in his breast, the body which
fell at your feet would be meet for worms rather than for the melting-
pot."
It was indeed such a substance as Ling represented it to be, Mian
having discovered it during her very systematic examination of the
dead magician's inner room. Its composition and distillation had
involved that self-opinionated person in many years of arduous toil,
for with a somewhat unintelligent lack of foresight he had obstinately
determined to perfect the antidote before he turned his attention to
the drug itself. Had the matter been more ingeniously arranged, he
would undoubtedly have enjoyed an earlier triumph and an affluent and
respected old age.
At Ling's earnest words and prepared attitude an instant conviction of
the truth of his assertions took possession of Chang. Therefore,
seeing nothing but immediate and unevadable ruin at the next step, he
called out in a loud and imploring voice that he should desist, and no
harm would come upon him. To this Ling consented, first insisting that
the followers should be dismissed without delay, and Chang alone
remain to have conversation on the matter. By this just act the lower
parts of Canton were greatly purified, for the persons in question
being driven forth into the woods, mostly perished by encounters with
wild animals, or at the hands of the enraged villagers, to whom Ling
had by this time become greatly endeared.
When the usual state had been restored, Ling made clear to Chang the
altered nature of the conditions to which he would alone agree. "It is
a noble-minded and magnanimous proposal on your part, and one to which
this misguided person had no claim," admitted Chang, as he affixed his
seal to the written undertaking and committed the former parchment to
be consumed by fire. By this arrangement it was agreed that Ling
should receive only one-half of the yearly payment which had formerly
been promised, and that no sum of taels should become due to those
depending on him at his death. In return for these valuable
allowances, there were to exist no details of things to be done and
not to be done, Ling merely giving an honourable promise to observe
the matter in a just spirit, while--most esteemed of all--only a
portion of his body was to pass to Chang when the end arrived, the
upper part remaining to embellish the family altar and receive the
veneration of posterity.
* * * * *
As the great sky-lantern rose above the trees and the time of no-noise
fell upon the woods, a flower-laden pleasure-junk moved away from its
restraining cords, and, without any sense of motion, gently bore Ling
and Mian between the sweet-smelling banks of the Heng-Kiang. Presently
Mian drew from beneath her flowing garment an instrument of stringed
wood, and touching it with a quick but delicate stroke, like the
flight and pausing of a butterfly, told in well-balanced words a
refined narrative of two illustrious and noble-looking persons, and
how, after many disagreeable evils and unendurable separations, they
entered upon a destined state of earthly prosperity and celestial
favour. When she made an end of the verses, Ling turned the junk's
head by one well-directed stroke of the paddle, and prepared by using
similar means to return to the place of mooring.
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