Chap. II. 



START FOR THE INTERIOR. 



23 



the disgust of the other, who was an older man. In 

 an ordinary case I would have sent one of them 

 away, but, as I had but little confidence in either, I 

 thought that in their present jealous state the one 

 would prove a check upon the other. The projected 

 journey was a long one, the way was unknown to me, 

 and I should have been placed in an awkward posi- 

 tion had they agreed to rob me, and then run off and 

 leave me when far inland. The jealous feeling that 

 existed between them was therefore, I considered, 

 rather a safeguard than otherwise. 



As I was anxious to keep the matter as secret as 

 possible, I intended to have left the English part of 

 the town at night in a chair, and gone on board the 

 boat near to the east gate of the city, where she lay 

 moored in the river. Greatly to my surprise, how- 

 ever, I observed a boat, such as I knew mine to be, 

 alongside of one of the English jetties, and apparently 

 ready for my reception. " Is that the boat that you 

 have engaged ?" said I to my servant Wang. 64 Yes," 

 said he, " that coolie has gone and told the boatman 

 all about the matter, and that an Englishman is 

 going in his boat." " But will the boatman consent 

 to go now ?" " Oh ! yes," he replied, " if you will 

 only add a trifle more to the fare." To this I con- 

 sented, and, after a great many delays, everything 

 was at last pronounced to be ready for our starting. 

 As the boatman knew who I was, I went on board 

 in my English dress, and kept it on during the first 

 day. 



When I rose on the morning of the second day, 



