The men entered the crank sampan and were quickly conveyed on board a cargo boat; and as there was a little breeze. Mo and his wife pulled up the anchor, hoisted sail, got out their oars, and were soon on their way down the canal. Great was their astonishment when, upon going below, they discovered their friend was one of the great western devils, but, as Mo observed, "He is a good devil, since he has rescued me from that infernal prison, let us therefore chin-chin him (be friendly,) and we shall be fortunate,—besides, he will assist us without payment."
Jow saw no reason why they should not ship this man provided he kept quiet, and did not betray them. It seems that upon their arrival at Sse-tsein a few days previous to the one upon which the sailor was captured, Mo had landed with his only man to receive the cash for some salt which they had smuggled on shore upon a previous visit. The person to whom they had sold it, instead of paying them as he promised, had informed the military mandarin, whereupon the latter seized Mo and his man, and threw them into prison. As neither of them would give the name and number of their boat, or say to what place they belonged, the mandarin directed them to be beaten, and condemned the principal, Mo, to wear the cangue until such time as he should confess his crime, when probably his boat would be seized, his wife sold, and himself strangled.
Mrs. Mo, or rather Jow, was very pretty, and she knew it; so did her husband, who had great difficulty in obtaining a crew who did not want to make love to her. Now, he thought he had found the very man, so, devil or no devil, he made up his mind to ship Jerry as second mate and crew combined. He told his wife what he had determined, and as Jow saw that the devil was not quite as ugly as he had been painted to her, she reluctantly gave her consent, the truth being she had determined never to speak well of the crew in future.
Mo shaved Thompson's head, face, and eyebrows, then attached the artificial queue they had brought from the ya-mun, and sent him on deck for his wife's inspection.
"What do you think of him?"
"Ugly beast! frightful! he makes me tremble!" cried Jow in an affected voice, while secretly she thought she had never seen such a handsome crew in her life.
Mo treated him very kindly and passed him off as a dumb man from Kwantung, and Jerry began to like the life immensely. Jow was, as her name suggested, a soft fascinating woman, and whenever her husband was away would, when addressing the crew, relax her severe expression of countenance, and before he had been shipped a week, they were desperately in love with each other. He was so handsome, so daring, so kind, and so a hundred other things, while poor Mo, who was an excellent fellow as Chinese husbands go, was (behind his back) so stupid, so cowardly, so ugly, so in-every-way-mean. Women are clever in finding excuses even for their little peccadilloes, and Jow was as smart as the rest of her charming sex. Being a Chinese woman, this little weakness must be forgiven her, remembering she was almost sold to one, who, like all his countrymen, consider women to be mere animals created to minister to the wants of men; therefore, when she found a being who treated her kindly, waited on her, showed he considered her his equal, ay and in many things his superior, she sinned according to our ideas, but really unconsciously avenged the wrongs of her sex; and Mr. Mo being the victim, let those be sorry for him who have no better opinion of women than he had.
The Big Dog, that being the name of the boat, discharged her cargo at Yungping, took in a load of skins for the southern market, and proceeded towards the Pei-ho. All went on pleasantly, and Mo began to teach his crew Chinese, and when that gentleman was absent, Jow continued the lesson, so in the course of a few weeks the sailor became quite proficient; but when upon duty Jerry was scolded and frowned upon by the lady in such a splendid style, that Mo would brag to his fellow captains that he had a woman who was as women go priceless. "She is young, she is beautiful, can cook, sing, and make clothes. Her words are all for me; she is my wife, my slave, my little puppy; at my frown she quakes, at my command she flies. She is mine in thought, and I do not beat her, because I have no friends to be edified with the punishment. When I leave her she takes her seat by the rudder, and watches for my return; she is to me as the earth is to the potter,—I mould her to suit my taste; she remains as I form her ideas, if women can have any but what we gods give them."
Thus, in his sublime egotism, would Mr. Mo descant upon the excellent qualities of Jow; while all the time Jerry was paying the most gallant attention to that lady. True, it was a harmless flirtation, as he had not learnt enough of the Chinese language to enable him to propose an elopement, but he was getting on very rapidly, and in six weeks, by the time they arrived at Lin-tsin, the crew made up his mind, come what might, he would run away with the fair Jow, boat and all. Mo discharged his cargo, loaded his boat with merchandise, on account of a house in Ngan-tong, and upon the first "lucky day" the Big Dog proceeded down the Imperial Canal, and in due time arrived at her destination, where Mo received instructions to go on to a place called Hong-hien, on the borders of the lake Hong-tse.