Chap. XIX. VISIT TO THE NANZTANG MANDARIN. 387 



this manner every man is made responsible, to a 

 certain extent, for what goes on around him. In 

 this state of things it will easily be perceived that 

 the gentry who robbed me acted wisely in bring- 

 ing back all articles which, while they were of no 

 use to them, might have led in some way to their 

 detection. And, no doubt, this was the motive 

 by which they were actuated, and not any regard 

 for my convenience. But I felt truly grateful to 

 them nevertheless, and in this frame of mind I 

 retired again to rest after having secured the 

 windows of the boat and set one of the men to 

 watch. 



As soon as daylight appeared I dressed myself 

 and took my servant and one of the boatmen to 

 the house of the highest mandarin in the town, in 

 order to inform him what had happened to us 

 during the night, and to ask him to take steps for 

 the detection of the thieves and the recovery of 

 the money. When we reached his Ya-mun, we 

 were told by his servants that he was not yet 

 awake. On explaining to them that my business 

 was urgent, they promised to carry my message to 

 their master, and politely showed me into the 

 audience hall. 



I had not been here for more than five minutes, 

 when the mandarin himself appeared, dressed in 

 his ofiicial robes, which he had apparently thrown 

 very hurriedly on. As he entered the hall he 

 made me several most polite bows, which, as in 

 duty bound, I did not fail to return. As is usual 



2 D 



