“I awoke late next morning, and found to my dismay that my servant had robbed me of all my money and had departed with the mule. The landlord at once clamoured for payment, and the little money I still had remaining by me and the fairly rich clothes in which I stood were just sufficient to meet his demands, and left me sufficient to purchase a blue cotton coat and trousers and bamboo hat. From a prosperous, well-dressed individual I was in a few hours transformed into a penniless out-of-work coolie. Pride, however, forbade my returning to my friends in Ten Li, where I should only meet with ridicule, so having burnt papers before the image of Lao Lang——” “Lao Lang?” interrupts Jack. “Yes, Excellency; he is the god of play-actors, and as I had followed that calling for some time, I thought he might interfere on my behalf.” “And did he?” “Who knows? Perhaps he did. Anyway this person will endeavour to show what further fortune befell him. “After this pious exercise I started away from the town, taking a direction the opposite to that by which I had entered the town from Ten Li. Although a strong man, I still found it not altogether pleasant to march all day without anything to eat, and I was greatly exhausted when, near the hour of sunset, I came to the banks of a large river. This was crossed by a ferry, consisting of a large flat-bottomed boat, dragged from side to side by iron chains laid in the river-bed, and by this means passengers, beasts, baggage, and merchandise were conveyed from one side to the other. Having no money with which to pay my passage across, I sat somewhat disconsolately on the bank and debated with myself whether it were not better to at once end my miserable existence by drowning. Near me crouched a huge gaunt man in tattered garments, whose presence I had failed to notice, owing to my self-absorption, until he addressed me. My melancholy train of thought was broken in upon by his saying— “‘Honourable stranger, it seems to me that you contemplate suicide. Many people attempt to pass over to their ancestors in this river, but almost invariably before drowning they wish to be saved, and it is then that I come in—in other words, I save them from death, and moreover I will do the same for you, for indeed I am sadly in need of funds. So, fair sir, I beg of you to do the deed speedily, for night approaches.’