70 



TEA DISTRICTS OF CHINA. 



Chap. IV. 



disappeared amongst the surrounding boats, and left 

 us unmolested. "Now, do you see that?" said 

 Wang ; " you would not believe me when I told you 

 that they intended to seize and drown us ; but had 

 we not been awake and fully prepared, it would soon 

 have been all over with us." 



I must confess I felt a little shaken in my opinion, 

 and scarcely knew what to think of the business. 

 The whole scene, to a looker-on who could have 

 foreseen the result, would have been highly amusing, 

 but it appeared to be much too serious for me to 

 enjoy it. None of the other passengers were asleep, 

 although they were all in bed, and they kept up a 

 whispering conversation, which seemed ominous and 

 suspicious. I felt quite certain that no assistance 

 would be rendered us by them ; on the contrary, it 

 was not impossible that they would turn against us 

 and assist the boatmen. 



About half an hour after the first alarm the 

 city gate was again opened, and some men were 

 observed coming down the hill with lanterns, as the 

 former ones had done. This time it proved to be 

 the missing boatmen, who were supposed to be con- 

 cocting a conspiracy with their friends inside the 

 city. When they came on board they tried to look 

 astonished at the state in which they found us. They 

 laughed at Wang, and said they had no intention of 

 drowning him. He quietly told them that he did 

 not believe them, and, turning to me, said he was 

 sure they still meditated an attack. The fellows now 

 lay down to sleep, and requested us to put out our 



