"Even worse, O dear princess, for while the imperial storehouses are groaning with grain, thousands of people are dying of starvation within the walls of Pekin," replied Candida.
"I dare not doubt thy words, O Candida, yet I will not believe that my great parent would keep close the public storehouses while his children were starving," said the princess.
"It is even worse, O princess, for the daily distribution of food has been withheld," said Candida.
With a vacant stare the princess gazed into the face of her friend for a moment, then with a flood of tears upon her cheeks, fell into her arms; but recovering her presence of mind, she said, "Truly this is a calamity; surely I have heard such things ever precede the downfall of dynasties; but I will to my father's presence, and dutifully implore him on my knees;" and she moved toward the palace as if to act upon her resolution, but Candida caught her in her arms, saying, "It would not be seemly, O princess, nay, it would be useless, for the Prince Li-Kong now possesses the Emperor's confidence."
"What words are these, O Candida? Thou art indeed laughing at thy mistress, for didst thou not say the traitor was in open rebellion?"
"True, my princess, he was, till, for some vile purpose, he made his submission to Ten Thousand Years, who, as he brought the heads of some chiefs of the rebels, pardoned him, in the belief that his rebellion had been a trick, a pretence whereby he had the better subdued the other rebels."
With indignation in her heart at the traitor Li, and her eyes swimming with tears, she placed her hands affectionately in those of her friend—before, however, she could speak she shrieked with fright. The sin-fin had broken his cage and stood as erect as a man, clattering his teeth and grinning in her face, with his great paws upon her neck. The princess fainted; not so the Lady Candida for she boldly clutched hold of the brute, who, however, without relinquishing his grasp of the princess, caught the Lady Candida by her head-dress and hair, and dragged them both in the direction of the lake, looking savagely at the screaming attendants, who scampered off as fast as their legs would carry them; and so rapid were the movements of the brute, that he reached the verge of the water before Nicholas could thrust his sword into his hirsute side, a bit of a surprise that caused the beast to leave his hold of the ladies, when "scotched" but not killed, and catching sight of his real enemy, he uttered a savage scream and sprang at him with extended claws, but so neat was the spring that the weapon of Nicholas passed through his heart, when he gave one last terrific leap and rolled over dead.
The fright, the horror of feeling themselves in the sin-fin's clutches, and the revulsion of feeling at the unexpected relief, made the ladies forget, as you may well imagine, the lesser terror of seeing a strange youth within the prohibited walls. As for Nicholas, he thought only of them both. However, seeing they had been more frightened than hurt, and that they were now regarding him with a mixed expression of gratitude, surprise, and even anger, for so great is the modesty of women, and such the force of the custom in China, that rescue from death itself was scarcely sufficient to suppress the instinctive anger they felt at the intrusion of a boy in so sacred a place; perceiving all this at a glance, Nicholas fell upon his knees, saying, "Pardon, O great princess, for thus thy yellow girdle betokens thee. Let the life of thy mean servant be the penalty for his unpardonable intrusion, and he will not regret it, since he has been the means of saving the daughter of his Emperor, and the Christian-protecting Lady Candida, from the fangs of a vile beast."
"Rise, O youth, for it is not seemly that thou shouldst kneel at the feet of her whose life thou hast saved, and say what chance hath brought thee hither," said the royal lady, smiling with sweet gratitude.
"Surely, O princess, chance can have no influence over the children of God, who must have sent thy servant hither as a manifest of his watchful care for those who obey his word and protect his worshipers," replied Nicholas earnestly.