134 
WANDERINGS IN CHINA. 
Chap. VIII. 
the roof of my boat and soaked my bed, I confess I was 
rather amused than otherwise. 
The Chinese had good reasons for the precautions 
they had taken. In two hours the river came down, 
sweeping everything before it. Had any of our boats 
been in the stream they would have been torn from 
their anchors and probably dashed to pieces. Such 
mountain-floods are not unfrequent oh these rivers, and 
the boatmen, who know them well, take great care to be 
out of the stream before they come dowQ, particularly if 
this is likely to happen at night. 
We were all safely moored at last, and the conflict of 
tongues, as well as of the elements, gradually ceased. 
Now and then a remark was made upon what had 
taken place, and the good-humoured laugh which fol- 
lowed showed that the person bore no ill-will against 
those with whom he had had a war of words a few 
minutes before. 
In our boat the good lady was the only one who 
seemed ill at ease. Her husband, who had gone on 
shore before dark, had not returned, and she was evi- 
dently a little jealous of his proceedings when out of her 
sight. The result proved that she had good reasons for 
her uneasiness, for when the man returned, about three 
o'clock in the morning, he was in a state of intoxication. 
The good lady — a Mrs. Caudle in her way — did not 
spare him, and at the same time gave me an opportu- 
nity of hearing a Chinese curtain lecture. Mrs. Amee 
was not a whit behind her great prototype, for she soon 
put her husband to sleep, and as she talked till a late 
hour I followed his example. 
