by spare topsails, &c., piled up before them.
Early in the morning we lighted fires, and soon after daybreak, with steam up, commenced to get under weigh. Just then, as I fully expected, off came Marie's father and the old laundress—the one to look for a daughter who vanished on her bridal morn, the other for her poor slave girls—with warrants from the British consul for the delivery of the three girls if found on board. I was in charge of the deck, and took care to receive the bereaved parties at the gangway. After hearing their complaints, I reported the case to the captain, and received his orders to have the ship searched. This duty I took upon myself, rousing all hands out, and searching every part of the ship except the sail-room, which I took care to allow no one to approach. By the time the unsuccessful search was concluded, the anchor had been weighed, and we immediately commenced to drop down the river.
When we reached Hong-Kong, Marie landed and went to reside with her friends. She had become my betrothed, and seemed truly happy in the thought that nothing now could cause our separation. Little either of us thought at that happy time how ruthlessly all these bright prospects would be altered, and what sadness was yet in store for us. Alas! how little at that happy time either thought how soon the ruthless destroyer would annihilate a bond we had sworn should last for ever.
Marie was very lovely. Rather darker than the generality of Macao women; her complexion was a beautifully clear deep olive; the skin delicately soft, with the rich blood mantling through upon the slightest emotion; her eyes large, jet-black, lustrous, and almond-shaped, as those of the Spanish creoles of South America—eyes which can form a language of their own, so deeply expressive, so ever changeful, and heart-speaking—were exquisitely fringed with long silken lashes and arching brows; her hair, dark as the raven's wing, waved in rich profusion round her finely tapered shoulders; the Grecian nose and delicately formed nostrils spoke of her high caste; while a short full upper lip, so richly coloured, adorned a mouth small but singularly expressive, and studded with teeth of pearly whiteness. This young creature, nurtured in a southern clime, could scarcely number sixteen summers, and yet her petite figure, lithe and graceful as it was, had attained its full development. She was, in truth, an unsophisticated child of nature—ardent, passionate—the very creature of impulse.
In a small secluded dwelling, shaded by evergreen foliage, in one of the prettiest parts of Hong-Kong, every moment I could spare from my ship was devoted to Marie. We were supremely happy. We had no thought or care for the morrow, we were too fully absorbed in the present. The old quartermaster's warning proved his experience, although, with one exception, it was unnecessary in my case, yet the exception was sufficient.
To many of those warm impassioned temperaments of the East love becomes as necessary as life itself. Marie was one of these. Natures like hers could be moulded by love to any form. The house of Marie's relatives was one of two built together; but for this it would have been in total seclusion, the bend of the hills it rested on hiding all other buildings in the distance, and entirely screening it from observation. The next door and only neighbours consisted of two Portuguese sisters and an Englishman, the husband of the eldest.
MARIE.
London, Published March 15th 1866 by Day & Son, Limited Lithogrs Gate Str, Lincoln's Inn Fields.
Day & Son, Limited, Lith.
The Portuguese being natives of Macao, were slightly acquainted with Marie, and we gradually became intimate with them. The youngest of the sisters was very good-looking, and being of a very merry disposition, we often had great fun. Now, it so happened that Marie's love was so intense, so selfish, and so exacting, she could not bear me to pay the slightest attention to another. So at last, to realize the old adage, that "true love never did run smooth," she took it into her passionate little head to become jealous. This jealousy may be a very mild affair amongst our colder Northern women, but with a fiery little piece of impetuosity like Marie it was more serious. With such temperaments, jealousy instantly generates an all-consuming passion for revenge.
For a little while I had noticed Marie's more than usual excitability, accompanied by occasional bursts of grief, without any apparent cause; but, knowing her extreme sensitiveness, I thought but little of it. At last the cause was revealed, and this history nearly terminated in its revelation.
The house had a verandah in front, connecting it with that adjoining, from which it was simply divided by a wooden partition. One evening I and Theresa, the unmarried Portuguese, were conversing from the respective balconies. I fancied Marie had received me rather crossly that day, and to vex her thought I would have a little fun with her pretty neighbour. This thoughtlessness very nearly resulted in a tragical termination. After laughing and chatting with Theresa for some time, I went close up to the partition between the verandahs; and, leaning round it, pretended to kiss her. Instantly I heard Marie, with an exclamation, rush towards me. As I withdrew, I fortunately caught the shadow of an uplifted hand on my own side of the partition; and, while turning, I rapidly threw up my arm, just in time to arrest the descending blow, aimed by Marie with a stiletto. I received but a slight scratch, and soon took the weapon from my fierce little love, who instantly, with characteristic revulsion of feeling, threw herself into my arms in a passionate burst of grief. We were soon reconciled; this was Marie's first and last jealousy.
SING-SONG GIRL—page 10.
CHAPTER II.
Hung-sui-tshuen.—Clanship in China.—Hung-sui-tshuen's Genealogy: his Education.—Extraordinary Visions: Description of them.—Description of Hung-sui-tshuen: his Early Days: his Visions Explained: his Conversion: how Effected.—Hung-sui-tshuen's Preaching: his Religious Essays.—The God-worshippers.—Destruction of Idols.—Progress of God-worshippers.—Numbers increase.—Hostilities commence.—God-worshippers Victorious.—"Imperialist" Cruelty.—Bishop of Victoria.—Chinese Dynasty proclaimed.
Hung-sui-tshuen is a name now familiar in most parts of Europe as that of the chief—or King, as his followers term him—of the great Ti-ping revolution in China. Unfortunately much misapprehension exists as to him and his cause. Such information as I may give my readers, that has not come under my personal observation, has been derived from the actors themselves, especially all relating to the origin of the Ti-pings, their progress until I met them, and the description of their great leader—in fact, my knowledge of Hung-sui-tshuen has been obtained principally from his Prime Minister and cousin (Hung-jin), his chamberlain, and many of his chiefs and own clan. Since my return to England, I have had the pleasure to peruse, for the first time, the admirable little work of the late Rev. Theodore Hamberg, missionary of the Basle Evangelical Society to China—"The Visions of Hung-sui-tshuen, and Origin of the Kwang-si Insurrection." This, and the pamphlet entitled "Recent Events in China," by the Bishop of Victoria (published some nine or ten years ago), coincide in most particulars with the information I have gathered from direct sources; and, as all my journals, notes, and memoranda fell into the hands of the Imperialists during my service with the Ti-pings, I have found them very useful in recalling facts I might otherwise have forgotten.
Hung-sui-tshuen was born in the year 1813, at a small village in the Hwa district,2 some little distance from the city of Canton. His ancestors, originally from the north-east boundary of the Kwang-tung province, soon after the complete subjugation of the Chinese by the Manchoo Tartars, A.D. 1685, with many other families loyal to the Ming, through the persecution and exactions of the invader, abandoned their homes and sought refuge in the southern parts of Kwang-tung and Kwang-se, the two most southerly provinces of China. Here, to the present day, their descendants are known by the name of Hakkas (settlers) by the Punti people (natives