“Neighbour, I tell you they have vanished. Is it in accordance with reason to believe that they would wait?”
Where this sea eddied around the southwest corner of the Mission, the tumult of one wave rose sonorously above the rest.
“O Ye Men of the Middle Kingdom,” roared this wave. “Ye who have trod its soil, breathed the air of its Imperial Heavens; ye who have eaten the herb of its fields and for a myriad ages have drunk the dew of its benevolence, how long are you going to let these sea-imps devour your women and children? How long are you going to let these Western devils who pretend to be priests deceive you? Skin them of their robes and you will find that they are bats and snakes, who smile but to devour.
“Did they not sneak into our Kingdom like night monsters—these proud priests of the Hungry God? Answer, ye doubters; ye women-men; ye disgraceful progeny of the Ancients. Whoever trembled before priests or gods until these pallid demons came? Did not then the peace-flower bloom in our gardens; the song of the phœnix make men’s hearts harmonious? Who now does not fear the breath of these priests? Do they not get fat on destruction? Do they not steal the wives of our Great Men? Destroy towns and cities? O ye black-haired men of Han! O ye——”
“Why doesn’t someone climb the wall?” demanded one wave of another.
“They have cauldrons inside and when one mounts the walls they take off the lids and the fumes cause——”
“How do you know?”
“Bah! It is easy to reason with a wise man, but to convince——”
“Throw stink-pots over the walls!”
“Get the pung-dongs!”