Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1890-02-21

sampan fare, and my strange acquaint-
ancc departed.
turned in, wondering who my mys-
FERROUS passenger might be, and my
-thougfts,wcre not without vague msgivs;
\ pgsso the potcd tFeschcry OF the Chi
| hcses 1 .s4s ~
Twokc carly, and Tad hardly begun
dressing before Il herald came to inform
me that the Yiccroy of the province de
| sired to see me ut his ''yamcn" at 10 that
ronee connected with my harboring an es-
capped prisoner, and, full of vague dis
trust. | had almost decided either 10 put
to sea two hours before The advertised
time, noon, and so temporarily avoid any
explanations, or to plead press Of bust
1 ness and refuse to obey an almost royal
command Disturbed by such doubts,
hardly felt relieved when another herald
came to say that the Viccroy had CON
cludcd, as he desired TO see the ship, TO
visit the Captain, and that my presence
mt the H'yamen" would be excused =! [
Such thing us Viccroy visiting in
state Il merchant vessel was almost unprc-
ccdcn;cd, and began 10 fear that was
implicated in the escape of political
prisoner of high rank
Now the customary official messengers
began to pour in, First, two clad in
robes of state announced that his excel
lcncy would arrive in half an hour: then
four more that he was coming in ten
minutes; thea four iorscmcn .audily ca
parisonc,l, rode down to thcwllarf where
whs now waitin. to say that their mas
ter would arrive in five minutes; then Il
procession Of livcricd servants q, bearing
aloft on high poles red sign boards. on
which all the virtues under the sun were
ascribcd in Chinese characters to their
lord soldiers with flag, and swords and
spears; men with whips and gongs to
clear the way; nandarins on. ,horscback;
lictors with long phcasants' tails in their
caps, and large rabllc on foot-all pro
claimcd that his cXccllcncy had arrived
Alighting from a 5orgcou, green sedan
chair. borne by sixteen men in livery. he
greeted me most politely and accepted my
invitation To take passage in my gig OF
to the ship. y large portion of his escort
followed, occupying small fleet OF sam
pans. oDt'i'f
The Viccroy was ushcrcd into the
cabin and, strange to say, selected
chair Immediately III front Of the door
of the closet in which the refugee was
concealed.
After Il few courtcsics had been OK
changed was informed through an in
;crprctcr that Prince Ichang, the lca-icr
Of an Instruction, who had been cap.
turcd and condemned TRIBE brhcnded. y
iiai made his escape. Suspicion. they
said, sccmcd'to point Ia his bcin. sccrctcd
ON board my ship; sampan had been seen
To 90 alongside other the night before
about midnight; i. reached tlic ship with
two boatmcn and one +, rcgncr and re-
turned TO the shore with only one man.
and he made oil in great haste as soon as
he had landed, leaving the sampan ndrift
"Ot course the Captain knew nothing
about the escaped prisoner; AMI. so H.
could have NO objections TO allowing the
ship to be searched y
This was subtly put. To refuse tn
allow 1t would bc equivalent to acknowl-
cdging that the man was on b0ari, and
would cost me my place in a company
whose interest il was to placatc the I'M
friendly Chinese. To ALLOW the shin 10
he searchch involved the possible dis
covcry OF the man. and in that case his
rccapturc and certain Heath, rs well rs my
own dismissal from the company Either
course might cndangcr the lives of the :
foreign community in Annoy, a.lins.
whom the hatred of the Chinese needed .
only prctcXt TO begin general mas-n-
ere. felt the color come aud 20 in my /
checks and for Il moment | tho',;ht OF
delivering the refugee up +" certain
death, saying that when took him On
board ] was not aware al the nature 81:
the offence, anl then rcvulsion oi feel
ing came over me. Thought ''this man
has trusted his life in my hands and.
hunted criminal that he is, will not be-
Tray him"
All this flashed through my mimi in m
instant, and when | turned tn the Vice
roy felt the same spirit of helpless. yet
iniomiab.c defiance that every truc sail
r.icels in the fury of the STORM. said @,
quietly, ''Ccr;linly. your eXc"llcnc :. my
steward will turn over the keys to you.'
servants, bat they will iind no such man
on board my ship
The search party Went nil over the ship
"ieSN'" ~ INV tIcN: 'tn't bltcT pFDpinU
into corners and pcrring in amongst the
bales OF silk and boxes of tea. no stran 4
ger was found. This was reported to the
Viccroy, who said: ''Iou have not
searched this cabin: do So" WAS wild
with excitement and alarm. but my re
lief was intense when my furtivc glanccs
showed me That the search party did no:
dare TO ask their master to move from in
front of the door. This relief WAS OF
short duration, for he again asked if they
had searched everywhere. Everywhere
except in that apartment behind your
cxcellcncy's chair. We will look
there too; where is the key"
now became thoroughly fright
encd, and, fumblins Tor some
loophole 10 escape, I told the Vicc.oy
thnt that was locker where | kept nv
wines, and WAS ashamed to confess it
to so high ruler under the son of